Can't Let Go
by malvagita
Summary: Sydney Bristow is dead and Julia Thorne lives. AU. Basically my take on season 3
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer - I do not own Alias, I wish I didm but I don't, so this is my disclaimer. It holds for this entire story, so it's always going to be here. Get over it.

Please R&R

---

It had been a year since Sydney Bristow, aka Julia Thorne, had given up on ever returning to the CIA. Despite Kendall's offer to have part of her memory erased, she felt that she could never go back. No, Sydney Bristow was dead; the woman who now inhabited her body was Julia Thorne. She was originally in the Covenant, but dismissed that and was now a freelancer. The Covenant wanted her dead, the CIA wanted her back, but neither could catch her. She had made quite a name for herself, never getting caught; there wasn't a picture of her ever taken that you could clearly see her face. Except on video security feeds, but no one ever managed to see them, because they were always damaged in some way.

No one in the CIA knew who Julia Thorne was, except for Kendall, and he intended to keep it that way for the time being. All they knew was that she needed to be found, because it was believe that she knew something about the disappearance of Sydney Bristow. But they couldn't find her, and if luck prevailed she never would be caught. They would never get her picture and they would never know who the enigma Julia Thorne really was.

Julia had dropped The Covenant's look for her, letting her hair grow long and back to it's original dark color, having gotten darker then before. But she didn't look the same, her eyes were always lined in dark make-up, smoky and she had more confidence in her stride than Sydney had had. After all, Julia Thorne was a completely different person.

--

Looking down surveying the club she saw her who she was looking for, a blonde haired man standing by the bar, looking around, his eyes settled on her. She was beautiful, dark and mysterious. His eyes followed her as she made her way down the iron stairs and over to the bar. "You always had a flair for dramatics, Julia," he said as he took a sip of his drink, looking her up and down as she stood before him. This man, Paul Jamison, was one of the leaders of The Covenant. He wanted her dead the most, but he hadn't found her, she only surfaced when she wanted. "Tell me, love, why the need for this? You know I would be happy to meet you anywhere." Julia remained silent. This man had contacted her out of the blue, and she had gone for it, she, even though she knew he was probably going to kill her, wanted to know what he wanted.

"What is it, Paul?" She asked bluntly. She wanted to get this over with, she wanted to see what he wanted and then leave, preferably without harm.

Leaning in closer, he smirked, "I want to give you something," he said, pulling back, but not before she could see hunger in his eyes.

"Oh, really?" She asked, rolling her eyes, "And what would that be?" Crossing her arms over her stomach she fingered the small blade she had hiding in the hem of her pants. Ready to pull it out and stab him, which no doubt would bring her much pleasure, she would rather not do, not tonight, not like this. She wanted it to be on her terms, her meeting, not his.

"Here," he said, taking an envelope out of his pocket and handing it to her, "you'll like what's inside I promise." He finished off his drink before putting down his glass and then kissed her on the cheek rather suddenly. Before she could react he was gone, disappeared into the crowd. Looking down at the envelope he had handed her, Julia frowned. She didn't like enemies being cryptic, it made her feel uneasy.

After stuffing the envelope, unopened, into her pocket, she made her way out of the club. Looking around to see if she had been followed she made her way to her car, getting ready to drive home. The doors were still locked but on the passenger seat was a rose. A single rose and nothing else. Furious, she threw the rose on the street and tore off down the road, not to her hotel room, but to a different hotel, knowing somehow that it wouldn't be safe for her to go back there.

After getting a room, Julia pulled the packet from her pocket, sitting on the bed she sighed, not really wanting to find what was in it. Opening the folds Julia pulled out a piece of paper, a few pictures fell out onto her lap, ignoring them for a second she looked down at the paper. Gasping slightly at what she found written.

Proof, even though Sydney Bristow was dead, she still carried some of the same vendettas. Allison. She was alive, looking down at the picture she saw that she still looked like Francie. Cursing silently to herself, Julia looked back at the paper. It gave a place, a home address for the woman.

She was going to kill her, even though she knew it was what the Covenant wanted her to do, she didn't care, she was going to kill the woman who stole her best friend's life. And she needed the best to do it.


	2. Chapter Two

_A/N - Yep, don't own Alias, I own a copy of Season Three... but thats yeah. So yeah, psh R/R!_

* * *

Of course he would come; he would always come, always for her. Maybe not anyone else, but Julia knew how to get what she wanted. And there he was, Simon, one of her favorites, and she knew he was just as hung up on her that he had been on anyone before her. But now was not the time to talk like this. Making her way over to the bar, she sat on the stool next to him and ordered a drink.

"Now see, babe, you call me out here, but don't tell me why, and I-"he started talking, but was silenced when he got a good look at the grim expression on her face.

"I have a job for you, Simon," she said solemnly, Pulling out a folded up folder out of the back hem of her pants she slid it across the bar to him. "I want her," she said nodding to the folder, waiting for him to open it.

"Allison Doren," Simon nodded, look through the information in the file.

"I don't want her dead," she noted before he could go on, "I want you to bring her to me, knocked out, but alive." She told him, glaring at the picture that he was now looking at.

"I can do that, but it'll be at a price, I mean, you know that, but alive and dead make all the difference," he told her, still looking at the picture.

"I can give you whatever it is you want, but I want her sooner rather then later. You know where to contact me," she told him, in a finalizing tone, telling him that they were done here. She made to go push herself up off the stool to walk away, but before she could get up he grabbed her wrist.

"Tell me, why do you want her alive?" Not letting go of her, he sent a curious look up at her.

"Because I want to be the one to do it," she said before she wormed out of his grip and backed away into the dark.

* * *

A few days later Julia prowled the streets of Florence looking for nothing in particular. Jumping slightly as her cell phone rang from her front pocket. Pulling it out she didn't bother checking who it was before answering. "Hello?"

_"Julia we have her in sight. Now about my payment."_

"You'll get it when you come back to Italy, you know where I live, bring her with you."

_"Fine, we should be there soon-"_

He was cut off when she hung up on him. It was all she needed to know. She would soon see Allison. The woman who stole Francie's life, the woman who was soon going to pay.

* * *

Julia paced her living room floor. She ha a nice apartment, actually she had several. She was very well off and had places everywhere. The Florence apartment was her favorite though. It had been a while since she had received the call from Simon and she was getting impatient. A quality that had stayed with her from when Sydney was alive. 

Hearing a car pull up in front of her building, Julia tried to compose herself and went to look out the window. No one except her would see two men dragging an unconscious body up to the building except for her. She had made sure of that.

Opening the door before Simon could even ring the doorbell, she beckoned them inside and shut the door and locked it behind them. "Put her in the back room," she nodded to the other man, while Simon stayed with her.

"So I brought her to you, Julia. Now I want payment, you know I'm not a greedy guy, I'll take what I can get." Simon said this as he stepped closer, their faces we almost touching, and looked down at her while she smiled up at him with a smile that was too sweet.

"You'll get your payment, Simon, just be patient." She grinned and stepped back. Twirling around him she passed Simon's partner as she entered the back room. The back room was unlike any room in the large apartment. It was completely bare, save for the small table of instruments and a chair close to the wall, the chair resembled a dentist's chair, only it had straps that could hold down anyone. Currently it held the person in the world that Julia hated most, Allison Doren.

Hatred filled Julia to the max as she looked down at the just stirring form that was in the chair before her. Simon came into the room and shut the door behind her. The room was soundproof, you couldn't hear anything from the outside, and no one could hear anything that went on in the room.

Without looking at Simon Julia walked up between Allison and the small table. She could wait for her to fully wake up before saying anything to her. But first she shot her up with something that would paralyze her jaw, so she wouldn't be able to make a sound. It would wear off later, but not she wanted to talk without interruption.

After what seemed like an hour, Allison woke up. It took her a while to notice she was somewhere new, looking around she saw Julia, and then looked down at the restraints. Getting a wild look in her eyes she struggled against them profusely.

Julia grinned down at her with a satisfaction in her eyes that scared Simon. "The roles are now reversed, Allison, lets see how you like it." Opening a case that was filled with needles. Not unlike those that were used on Sloane so many years ago. Taking one of the needles out she makes sure the needle is working before slowly pushing the needle deep into Allison's skin. After all f the liquid is into her system, Allison's eyes widen and she tries to scream.

"Don't like it that much do you?" Julia asked sweetly, before sticking another one in her arm. After about five more, Julia had plenty, she could go on for a long time, the paralysis from Allison's jaw wore off and she screamed. Causing Simon to jump and cover his ears, but Julia didn't seem to notice.

"You stupid whore!" Allison screamed at Julia, "You won't get away with this!" She warned before another needle was pushed into her arm, causing her to scream again.

"You're wrong," Julia leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I will get away with this." She said, before pushing a needle into her chest which caused Allison the go into cardiac arrest, killing her. Julia knew that if anyone found her that they would think she had just had a heart attack, after none of the fluids Julia had put into her would be found. Placing the needle in her hand she stood looking at the dead form in front of her. "That was for Francie." She simply stated as and she wiped a tear off her cheek, turning to Simon. "Now, about your payment." She said with a smirk.

* * *

A little while later, after Julia and Simon had dealt with how much and of what he was going to paid, they stood in her kitchen, talking in low voices. Simon's partner, Geoff, had left a little while ago with his share of the money Julia was paying them. "So, Julia, tell me why you wanted her alive." Simon asked her, what seemed like suddenly, "I'm not leaving until you tell me, I've seen you do horrible things to people, but never something like that…" Letting his voice drift off he watched her. She had a stony, emotionless look upon her face, and it scared him. 

He didn't think she was going to say anything when she spoke. "A long time ago, I had this friend," she hadn't told him of her past, she would never tell him, so it didn't matter, he knew her as only Julia and it would stay that way. "We were best friends, had been for countless years. An experiment was made, Project Helix, with it you could genetically alter someone's appearance to look exactly like another. My best friend was the second of two people this was done too. Allison Doren, the woman in there, was the woman who was turned into Francie." She couldn't go on, but she had to, she had to tell someone before it completely ate her inside, "She killed Francie, and then tried to kill me, we both lived, until now." And that was all she said on the matter. "You have your money, now go." She said icily, the sudden change in her attitude startled Simon, but he knew better then to argue with her. With a quick kiss on the lips, he was gone, and Julia was left with a body and her own memories.

* * *

Once she had discreetly rid of the body, in such a way that it would be completely unidentifiable if they managed to find her, Julia sat in the middle of her living room floor. Consumed in her memories, in silence she could hear her old friends talking, laughing. She could almost see Will and Francie laughing and sitting at the table. She could see Vaughn walk in, smiling like he knew something. Tears ran down her face as she didn't try and rid the memories from her thoughts. She didn't want to. She wanted to remember her old life. Once in a while it was what she needed, and she needed it now. More than anything she wanted to see them again, but she had no clue what had happened to any of them. But it was simple, she didn't need to know. It would tear her apart if she actually knew where her friends were. 

Those memories faded, and she found new ones. Not new memories, but different ones. Ones of someone she never thought she would ever think of at a time like this. Sark, she actually missed him. And she missed they're fighting, his cocky behavior, and his promises that they might one day work together.

She was ready to make him pay up on that promise. She was ready to break him free.


	3. Chapter Three

_A/N - Yep, don't own Alias. All I own is my season three DVD set. R/R! Enjoy_

It's been three years, Michael Vaughn though to himself, entering the CIA building which he worked. Three years since I last saw her. Her of course was Sydney Bristow. Despite his constant effort to get her off his mind, every time he walked into this building he was reminded of her. As he knew most people here were. They still all expected her to come back; walking into the front door was if it had only been three days. Like nothing had happened, only they had realized that it was impossible, she was most likely dead, never to return.

Even though he had moved on, he was now married to Lauren Reed; Vaughn wasn't as in love with her as he had been with Sydney. No one would ever affect his heart and mind like that. No one, no matter how many times he had to remind himself a day that he was with Lauren, that he loved Lauren, she didn't come close to Sydney. His Sydney. And she knew it. But she was happy with a life like hers. Other than Vaughn, people didn't seem to like her very much, it could be because she had taken over where Sydney worked, and they didn't like it. But they had warmed up on her a little over the past year.

His status in the office having moved up, he was back into an office again, a bigger one this time. It had a view too. After passing Marshal, who wanted to show him pictures of his kid, he entered his office and shut the door behind him. His desk was cluttered with papers and pens, things like that. He also had a few pictures. A picture of him and Lauren, and few other random ones of him and his friends, one of them he was playing hockey. The pictures of Sydney he had were tucked away in the drawers of his desk. Only Weiss knew that they were there, and that Vaughn sometimes would stare at them.

No, not to be mistaken, he really was happy, it was just some days. Like this one, on this day three years ago, he had asked Sydney to go away with him. He was going to ask her to marry him. But then she disappeared and there was a fire, and he buried her. Or someone else, he knew she was alive, everyone did, they had a picture of her from a short while after she was gone. But none since.

"Mike," Eric Weiss came in without knocking, knowing what day this was, as it was on his mind as well. "How're you doing?" He asked with concern, as he too missed Sydney.

Sighing Michael ran a hand over his chin. "I've been better, you?"

"Fine, just fine." They stared around the room for a few minutes, the awkward silence settling over them.

"So-"

Eric was cut off by Lauren walking into the room. "Hello," she said, walking up right beside Vaughn, giving him a quick kiss, oblivious to what day it was. "You didn't wait for me," she accused him. He sent a helpless glance at Eric who stood there, before saying something.

"I asked him to come in," he started, looking from his best friend to Lauren, "I had to ask him a question about something." He nodded at Mike gave him a small smile of appreciation.

"Oh, well, okay." Lauren could tell there was something else. But she didn't want to press it.

Another awkward silence, Lauren couldn't see why her husband and his best friend had such grim looks on their faces. Just as she was about o say something, Dixon stuck his head into Vaughn's office. "I need all of you," he said briskly, before walking out and heading into the conference room.

All three of them, as if on cue, sighed. Knowing that something big happened, but none of them wanted to know what it was. Pushing himself out of his chair, Mike followed Lauren and Eric out of his office and into the room Dixon had just vanished into. Upon entering the room they found an angry looking Jack Bristow, and a worried looking Dixon. Taking their seats Vaughn was the first one to speak, "Why are we all here, I didn't know there was a meeting planned for today."

He didn't make it clear as to whom he was addressing, so it was up in the air. Jack and Dixon looked at each other, and Jack was the one to answer, "We have required Intel as to the whereabouts of one of our missing agents."

Now this make everyone in the room grow very quiet, except Lauren, who had never known Sydney, and didn't know what the big deal was. "So why exactly are we here, I mean, this happens all the time, right? Why is this time so special?" She asked, looking around the room, wondering why everyone looked so shocked.

It was a minute or two before anyone spoke, Marshall was the one to break the silence. "Sy-Sydney?" He asked, almost as if he was afraid to find out the answer.

Jack nodded his head a little. "Yes," he answered in a small voice. Vaughn and Eric looked at each other, Lauren was still confused, but said nothing. God this brought back so many memories for everyone.

"Where is she?" Michael asked in a strange voice, ignoring the look he got from his wife, "Where is Sydney?" She asked again, this time louder.

"Florence," it was Dixon who spoke this time. "We have pictures of her. It seems that she is living as a civilian. But we cannot be sure, we are sending in a team to get her." So that's why he called the meeting, to see out of them, which ones would want to go rescue their missing jewel.

"We thought it would be best if the people who got her knew her best." Jack stated, looking at Eric and Michael, pointedly, before continuing. "But, I would understand if you didn't want to go." Meaning, he himself was not going, he didn't trust himself to go on this mission.

"I'll go," Eric said, Jack knew that he would, now looking over at Michael. Not saying anything, but silently waiting to see if this man could get over feelings he had for his daughter.

Lauren was still glaring at him, he knew she didn't want him to go, but this was something he needed to do for herself. "I'll go as well." He said quietly, ignoring the look he got from Lauren, not caring, which made her all the angrier at him.

Dixon nodded silently and pressed a button on his computer, Sydney's face filled the main screen, as well as all of their screens in front of them. "This picture was taken yesterday, it is outside an apartment building where some suspicious activity has been going on. Records show that she lives in the fifth floor apartment, under the name of Julia Thorne. To our notice she was not involved with the said activities, but one can not be sure." Dixon paused, looking at the picture, as all the other men in the room were doing as well, looking at this girl who was one in the same as the woman they gave up so many years ago. "I want you two to go into her apartment and bring her back. You will have a team incase the building has security. Marshall will run the optec." With one last look around he group, he nodded, then looked down, "Bring her home safely," he told them quietly before leaving.

Jack looked around all of them, discluding Lauren, and then nodded, knowing his daughter would be safe with them. Walking out of the room, leaving Sydney's old friends and a very angry wife alone, Eric and Michael and Marshall all looked at each other, wondering what was going to happen now.

Lauren made an angry sound and stormed out of the room. "You might want to go follow her, man." Eric said softly, Mike knew that was what he had to do. Getting out of his chair he slowly followed Lauren, not in any big hurry.

"Lauren," he called to her when he was out of the conference room, and he saw her walking away from him. When she heard her name being call, she stopped and turned on her heel to face Michael.

"What!"

"What's the matter-"?

"What's the matter! Are you honestly asking me what the matter is?" She stared as his face then pulled him into the hallway, "How could you go and volunteer for the mission? You know I don't want you to be involved with her anymore, given your… history with that woman." She huffed, not that Michael was really listening. I mean, he was, but his mind was elsewhere.

"I don't think you get it," he said harshly before she could say anything else, "She was my life, before you, she disappeared, I have to know if it's really her or not. If you aren't okay with that then you have to get over with it, because I'm going whether you like it or not." He stated in a finalizing tone before walking away, leaving her in the hallway staring after his receding form. Going into his office he slammed his door, sighing and hit his head against the wall.

Not wanting to deal with this was going to cause further problems. His marriage was already strained, but this was going to make it worse. Not that it mattered, as stated; he wasn't truly in love with her. It was just there.

Looking around the office Mike sat down in his chair and rocked himself back and forth. How he was going to do this was beyond him, but he was going to sure as hell try.

-Two Hours Later-

"We are going to go in as security men. Yesterday Sydney had cameras installed in her apartment, we are supposed to go in saying we are going to check the system," Eric was telling Mike about their cover as they were on the plane. "We have the cameras linked to our own servers, so we can tell if she is in or where she is in the apartment." Eric fell silent after this last statement. Looking as confused as Michael felt, it took a while for them to say what was on their minds, and Eric spoke first.

"We haven't been able to find her in, God; it's been three years, why now?" He said quietly, Mike was thinking the exact same thing. But nothing could be said, neither one wanted to think of what was going through their heads, that she hadn't wanted to be found. Sydney was capable of it too, if she didn't want to be found, she wasn't going to be. Until now, and it baffled them both, but they didn't want to think the worse.

Just when Mike was about to say something, another agent along with them came into the room, "We will be landing in five minutes." He said briskly before turning on his heel and exiting the room again. Eric looked over at Michael and sighed.

"Here we go."

-One Hour Later-

They were in the parking lot of her building. It wasn't run down like Vaughn had though, it was rather elegant. With guards at the front door, doormen, everything that you would associate with a fancy hotel. But no, this is where she lived, it seemed like a dream compared to her old place, as now she had a full floor of her own.

Michael jumped slightly when Eric entered the van, "The video feed should be up shortly," he said quietly, knowing he had scared his friend. Sitting across from him, Eric looked over at Michael sadly, "Are you sure you can do this?" He asked him, knowing that he himself had battled his mind to find out if he could really do this, if he could really see this girl after three years and still have a clear head. In the end he thought he could, but it still remained to be seen whether Vaughn could.

After thinking for a while, he could answer, "I'm ready." He said, in an odd tone, like he was going to face his worse fear. The voice both scared Eric and made him stronger. After another second of silence, a voice came into their ear pieces.

"You should have the feed… now," the voice belonged to a younger agent, Sarah. "Can you see anything?" Michael and Eric both turned their attention to the three different screens in front of them. Each with four different pictures. They could see clearly, in black and white, the layout of her apartment, as well as a person lying in the bed. Eric gasped, she was more beautiful than he had remembered.

"Yes, we can see." He said, almost whispered back to her. "We are going in." He nodded to himself, then looked over at his entranced friend. "Mike, come on." He said forcefully, to get him out of this stupor that he had created for himself. It worked, Mike nodded and they filed out of the van. "Now team, we want this to go smoothly, no shootings, we are going into her apartment, tranquilizing her, and then bringing her out of there. Got it?" He didn't wait for an answer, "Good."

Eric and Vaughn made their way up to the elevator, ignoring the looks they got from the people milling around the lobby. They were with a gurney, as their cover was now someone in apartment five had called in an emergency. After getting up to the fifth floor, after what seemed to be an endless time, they reached the locked door of the fifth floor apartment. Eric silently handed Michael the key card that they had obtained earlier that day from Marshall, which he used to open the door.

Praying they didn't wake her, the two agents entered the apartment, knowing the dangers that could happen, knowing what would happen if she were to escape their hands again. Leaving the stretcher in the hallway, Eric and Mike walked quietly down the hallway, at the end there was an open door with soft music coming out of it. Mike peeked his head through the door, this was it. Sydney's room, she was still sleeping peacefully when they entered the room.

Angelic, those were the only words that could come to either of their minds. Her long ebony hair flowed across the pillows, and looked like a dark cloud. Eric stepped ahead of Mike with the needle they were to use on her. It was incredibly depressing, neither of them ever imagined the day when they were going to have to tranquillize their best friend, because she was possibly a threat.

Just as Eric was about to inject the needle in her outstretched arm, she stirred. As if feeling their presence there, but she did not wake up. The two men didn't dare let out their breathes as Eric shot the medicine into her veins. Her breathing slowed and they knew she was no longer a risk until she woke up.

Picking her up softly, Mike carried her to the gurney they left in the hallway. Stretching her out across it, Eric went to work strapping her down to it, they had to make this look like it was an actual emergency. Closing the door softly, they rolled her down back into the awaiting elevator. Once they got down to the ground level, it was show time. Rushing out the people who had just looked at them skeptically were now desperately trying to see what was going on. They ran through the lobby, and out to the back of the van. Which just happened looked like an ambulance. Michael stayed in the back with her and Eric drove to the extraction point.

They were really doing this. They were really bring her home.

Once they were out of the parking lot, the rest of the agents they had brought with them, made their way up to her apartment, to see what she had been doing these last few years.

-Three Hours Later. In LA—

Once they had reached the ground, Sydney had been whisked away, being put in the hospital and under surveillance, Michael and Eric were under strict orders to come directly back to the Rotunda. Which they did, only to be greeted with worried faces.

Jack, Dixon and Marshall all congratulated and thanks them profusely for bringing her home. Lauren was still angry at her husband, but he didn't care.

No one seemed to notice when the phone rang, other than an aid. "Sir," she said, not sure which one of the men she was supposed to be directing that 'sir' to. "She's awake."

To Be Continued.


	4. Chapter Four

_A/N : Everything is not as it seems, remember that. And that I don't own a thing, remmeber that too. R/R!_

A few days later, Sydney was in an apartment. A new apartment, as she had been told that her old one had burnt down. Apparently there had been a fight, but she thought she had finished that, and Allison was dead, and it had only been yesterday. But no, they told her she had been found living in Florence, Italy, and they had brought her home. They didn't know what had caused the sudden memory loss, but they were working to figure out what it was.

She had been moved into this apartment yesterday, by Eric. She was told what had happened, that she had been gone for three years, and that her thought boyfriend had gotten married. None of this suited to her likings, so she was currently refusing to see anyone but her father, Eric and Dixon.

Tomorrow was the day in which she was going to return to work. And she was ready, she wanted her life to go back to normal. Part of her hoped that it would just magically change back into what she had left. But the sensible part of her knew that it would never happen. Sydney had been gone to long for things to go back to normal. And that is the way it would remain.

Sighing she looked bitterly around her new apartment. It was near the beach, and right next to Weiss'. She had a feeling that it was being watched, by the CIA of course, because, it was rather suspicious that she had lost her memory, and they wanted to keep her under observation, which made her wonder more why they didn't just keep her in the hospital longer. Looking around at the boxes she thought about unpacking, but decided against it. She didn't want to look through things that would remind her of what was lost.

Not knowing what to do, she just stood there, looking out the window, at noting particular, just looking to look. She just couldn't shake the feeling that it was wrong, she belonged somewhere else. Somewhere not here, not in this house, not in this life. Years later she would tell herself that she was right, she didn't belong, it wasn't her life anymore.

Lost in thought, she hardly heard the doorbell ring. After a few minutes, it ran again, pulling her out of a dream world, and back into reality.

Walking to the door, she unlocked both of the locks she had locked and relocked before even thinking about looking around the house.

"Michael?"

-Two Hours Before –

"I don't care what you say Michael! I told you I didn't want you to go on that mission, and yet you went anyway. I don't see how you can't see the problem here!" Lauren was shouting at Michael for going to rescue the love of his life, Sydney. Although Lauren didn't want to call her that, she knew it.

"The problem is that she was gone for three years, Lauren, three fucking years. You can't just expect me to not go and see if it is really her. If she hadn't been dead all these years. I don't understand the problem here, because if it had been one of your friends, you would have done the same thing!" Michael yelled back, he was getting tired of this. Lauren hadn't talked to him since Sydney had gotten back, until today.

"But she wasn't your friend, she was your girlfriend!" Lauren made an excellent point. "You went out, you almost asked her to marry you! If she hadn't of disappeared, I would not be married to you. It makes all the difference, Michael, and you can't seem to see that." She screamed at him, furious that he couldn't see her side of this. He had always seemed so understanding, until his precious Sydney had actually come back.

Michael didn't know how to answer that. All that she said was true, and he really could see where this was coming from, but he didn't want to accept it, so he pushed it away. Not wanting to accept the fact that Lauren felt threatened by her returning, because she had felt threatened by the very memory that hung around him like a dark cloud. One that affected everyone she worked with. It was hard for her, but hard for all of them, he took this as her being selfish, being that she couldn't just accept him wanting his friend back. Even though she knew he was still in love with her, had loved her and it had almost killed him, several times.

"This conversation is over, Michael," she told him and a warningly calm voice. He knew that he would need to give her some time to calm down. It would be best if he left, giving her time to do this alone, so he did, when she went to go take a shower, he left her a note saying that he had gone to talk to Weiss, someone who would help calm him down. But he was really going to see her, she knew it, had waited for it. She was just going to have to accept it.

-Present—

"What are you doing here?" Sydney asked him. Rather startled as to why he was here, but knowing the answer at the same time. He had been fighting with Lauren, his wife, and had come to see her. As if to make it all better. It wouldn't be better though, it was only going to get harder.

"Can I come in?" He asked, cautiously, as she hadn't spoken to him since she got back. And she called him Michael, which was never good.

"S-Sure," she replied timidly, opening the door wider for him to pass through, before closing it behind him, and following him into the living room.

Turning he smiled at her, a smile that almost made her knees go weak, and she almost ran and hugged him, wanting to kiss him like she had before she had gone away. But she stopped herself, knowing that she couldn't do this. And it was almost as if he knew that, because the smile faded to a softer one.

"Did you need something?" She asked, her voice cool, hurting him, intentionally or not he couldn't tell, neither could she.

"No, I just," he paused, not being able to think of a good reason for having come over, "just wanted to see how you were." He told her quickly, thinking that it was a god enough reason for coming over.

"Oh, I'm alright," Sydney told him, her head telling her that it wasn't the real reason he came over.

"Okay, that's a lie. I wanted to know how it was going to be. Between us, I mean, I know there are a lot of things that need to be said, but I want to know where we stand." Vaughn just blurted it out. All of it just came rushing out, things he had wanted to say when he first saw her picture, first saw her laying in her bed back in Italy.

Sydney didn't know what to say, how was she to respond to that? He was married, her Vaughn was married, to someone that wasn't her. And that hurt most of all.

"Where do we stand?" She repeated his question in a shaky voice, "You got married Michael, married. To someone else," no need to add 'who isn't me' he knew it already, "and that's not the worst part. You got married, apparently I didn't mean that much to you, because if I had, you would have waited. Maybe my love meant nothing to you, it was just a game for you, 'Let's mess with Sydney Bristow's heart, make her think she's loved'. Were do we stand? I don't know, Michael, where do we stand? How about you go ask your wife that question then get back to me." She told him bitterly. Finally letting her emotions out. The people watching these tapes of her apartment would get a free soap opera scene without expecting one. "I think you should go," she told him firmly, saying this conversation was over, and that he had no right coming over here and asking her that after all they had been through together.

Stunned, all he could do was nod, without meeting her eyes, Vaughn walked out side with his eyes glued to the floor. Hearing the door slam behind his retreating from, he knew that he had lost Sydney forever. All he could do now was go home to an angry Lauren. Something he wasn't particularly looking forward to doing.

-Back at the Rotunda-

Eric had been watching the whole thing. He had been assigned to desk work, currently watching Sydney, since Dixon knew she would want him doing this rather than someone she didn't know. And the only reason he was currently watching this was because Lauren had come into the office and was biting off the heads of anyone who crossed her path. So rather then being yelled at, Eric retreated back to his office to watch over his best friend.

Just as it had Sydney, Michael's coming didn't seem of a shock to him. He knew why he was there, and that nothing good could come from it.

He could hear everything, security had really improved in the last three years. He heard what Vaughn had said, and wanted to shoot him for asking her that. The poor girl had been through enough in the last three days. And he was not shocked in her bitter answer. Actually, he had expected it, and even though Michael was his other best friend, thought that he had deserved it.

_I could write a damn soap opera,_ Eric thought to himself before turning his attention back out into the Rotunda through his window. Seems Lauren had made someone cry. _Oh, what an interesting soap opera it would be._

Looking back at the screen on his desk, he saw that Mike had left, and Sydney was relocking the doors, seemed that she had gotten a little paranoid during her time away. It was to be expected though, after all, she did wake up and had lost all memory of the last three years. Or so she said, not that he was about to not believe her, it was just a little strange.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't jump out of them until Dixon walked into his office, slamming the door behind him and sitting in front of him. "Lauren, it seems, is angry about something, and it taking it out on every aid in this building," Dixon informed Eric, sarcastically. Both of the men knew what had gotten her so upset. No doubt she had fought with Michael and seemed to be that it was a pretty bad fight.

Eric sighed, "Yeah, well, at least she isn't talking it out on any of us. Knock on wood." Eric knocked on his desk so he wouldn't jinx their luck so far.

Dixon chuckled, but couldn't reply, he was watching the screen. "It's good to have her back." He said softly. Since his wife had been killed, it seemed that his kids and Sydney were the only strong links to his old life. The one where he was ignorant, but happy, and he was glad to have him back. It was almost as if he felt safe again, knowing that Sydney was back made him feel better. He couldn't explain it, but he knew several people in this office, and those in Washington felt the same way.

Sydney Bristow, the single woman who held so much power that she was able to bring the entire spy world to it's knees, all she had do to was disappear. Keep people guessing, Dixon knew as well as anyone that they had not been the only ones looking for her. It had almost seemed as if the secret word they weren't allowed to speak of had gone on a hiatus. For about a year things were slow, noting of major importance. All hopes were put on finding this one girl.

It was scary almost. Saying that one person held that power, scary in the thought that she could do it again. So many sleepless nights had been the cause of her, how many more were going to happen until her fiery soul had been made content? No one could answer that, nor could they prevent it, and everyone knew that. Kendall, Dixon, Vaughn, Eric, Jack, Lauren even Lindsay knew that, and they feared what this woman could do. Just like they had feared her mother.

The thoughts that had taken over Dixon and Eric were interrupted by a sound of yelling. Dixon turned to look out the window, and Eric tilted his head to see what was going on. Seems as if Vaughn had decided to come into work today, much to Lauren's dismay. And apparently, Lauren had gotten hold of the security tapes from his and Sydney's confrontation earlier. Never could, she was currently screaming at him, as he was retreating to his office. Following him, Lauren shut his door to muffle the screams. Everyone in the Rotunda looked scared, knowing this wasn't the end of the bad mood they had just encountered with Lauren, and fearing it.

Dixon turned back to Eric and sighed, "Well, we better go do some damage control," Eric silently agreed, and pushed himself out of his chair, following the Director out of his office.

-Later That Evening-

Sydney had sat around her apartment for the majority of the afternoon. Thinking, and sometimes talking to the people she knew were watching her. They never answered back, but then again they couldn't. Didn't matter, she just asked them what she should have for dinner, things like that. Nothing in depth, in depth was to much for her, she just needed to simplify things right now.

After having a simple dinner, Mac and Cheese the best thing in the world, Sydney found it was online eight. Too early to go to bed, but there was nothing else to do.

Then she got an idea, there was club, one that someone had told her about, she wasn't sure who, but she needed some adventure in her life right now. Not wanting to wear anything she owned, she got into her car and drove to a nearby boutique that specialized in this kind of clothing, those that you would wear to a club.

Picking out a short back skirt, she bought that and a back corset like top to go with it. Finishing off the outfit with a pair of spiked heals. Knowing that she would also need make-up, she walked next door to get some. Picking out, and then going into the bathroom, she changed and made up her face. It scared her hoe much she looked like someone else. Stuffing the clothes she had been wearing into the bag, she walked back out to her car, with a new air surrounding her, ignoring the looks she got from the people on the street.

It took her a half an hour to find the club she was looking for, but then she found it, tucked into an alley. Parking out on the street she didn't need to check her make-up before taking long strides to the club door. It was hidden, but she knew it was there, she pulled open the outside door and loud music assaulted her ears. Looking up she saw a neon sign labeling the club Slankster's. Not wanting to have to pay, she latched arms with a man who had just paid to enter, ducking behind his big form, not noticed by the bouncer she got in. It was an underground club, there was a balcony. She took the stairs up there and stood at the banister. Looking down at the masses of people dancing together, grinding their bodies against one another as if this was the last human contact they would get for a while. Looking towards the bar she saw a dark head, sensing that it would be familiar, she walked slowly down the steps, ignoring the men she knew were staring at her.

Making her way over the bar, she pushed next to the dark haired man, "Buy me a drink," without looking at her, he nodded to the bartender who put a shot in front of her. Taking the shot in her hands, she smiled and greedily drank it. "Thank God, Simon, I thought I was going to go insane." She smiled at him with a wicked grin as he turned to her with a smile that matched her own.

Before he could say anything, Sydney pressed her lips against his, in a passionate kiss. Simon put his hand on her back and pulled her closer, she put her hand on the back of his hair, pushing her fingers in his hair. After a few seconds they both came up for a breath.

"Well, hello to you, too, Julia. I've missed you."


	5. Chapter Five

_A/N: Nope, don't own a thing. R/R! Please! _

Michael Vaughn entered Slankster's at midnight. He was there meeting a contact of his, one whom he had never met before, but this man had contacted him and told Michael to meet him at the club at midnight. Michael didn't like the location of the club, and had tried to change it, but that man had persisted that it be this club in which they were to meet. He would be at the bar, wearing a black coat, Michael wasn't sure how he was supposed to know it was him, but he just had a feeling.

Walking down the winding stairs Michael looked at the mass of people dancing together, writhing together like they were literally attached. Sighing he pushed his way over to the bar, looking around, he ordered a beer, but didn't drink it. All he could think about was Sydney. What she had said to him, the depth behind her words. The hatred and he couldn't even think of the person whom, no doubted, had been watching the tapes at that specific moment in time.

All he knew was that an hour before he left, he had gotten a call saying that Sydney had left, and they didn't know where she was. He was worried, someone should've been following her too, but no one would listen to him worry about her, because they all saw something different. He was in love with her, and a man who was in love would do anything to protect that person, even if it was unnecessary.

When a man sat down next to him, then was Michael brought out of his depressing thoughts. Looking over at the man who had sat next to him, he took a long glance at his features. He was a roughly handsome man, with dark hair. It wasn't until he spoke that Michael realized that this was the man he was to meet here. "Ah, you must be Mr. Vaughn, no?"

Michael glared at the man, "It seems you know my name, but, excuse me for being blunt, who the hell are you?"

"Me? Why, I'm just a humble English man, wanting to do some business, Mr. Vaughn." The man chuckled, "You have a man in custody. A Mr. Sark, I'm here on account of my employer." Michael was about to ask him who his employer actually was, but he spoke before Michael had a chance to figure it out, "My employer's name cannot be known to you yet."

Michael just nodded, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to get anywhere with arguing with the man. "What about Sark?" He said with a sneer, he hated Sark, with a passion, and it wasn't only that he was a terrorist; Michael hated Sark because of something else, if only he knew exactly what it was.

"As you know, there was recently a kidnapping of two CIA agents, I know where they are. And I am willing to set up a deal between the CIA and my employer. We give you your men back, and you give us Sark."

"No, I-"

"Let me warn you, your men die if we don't get Sark, and we have tabs on ten other CIA operatives around the world. They die too, so let me rephrase this offer. You give us Sark, and we leave you alone."

Michael had to agree, he was on comps, and Dixon was telling him that he needed to agree, it was the best thing, they would figure out what to do about Sark, later, but now, all the men were the important thing. Nodding slowly, "Alright, we'll make the trade."

Michael watched as the man suddenly grinned. "Good, my employer will be pleased. Now, I will contact you with the information on when and where." Michael was distracted as a woman with long dark hair covering her face, sat down on the other side of Simon. She was beautiful, yet was strangely familiar at the same time. "I enjoyed this meeting, we should do it again." Michael knew it was time for him to leave when the man ordered two drinks.

Taking his beer in hand, Michael pushed himself up and started to walk off, stopped by the sound of the man's voice. "The name's Simon, Simon Walker." He said with a nod, before turning back to the woman at the bar.

That name, he had heard that name before, if only he knew where. Dixon had reassured him that they were going to pull any and all fills on Simon as he walked away without a glance at the dark haired woman who was starting at his retreating form.

"That went well," Simon mused to Julia.

"I'd say so," replied the 'beautiful woman' who sat at Simon's right hand. "What an idiot." She muttered, about Vaughn no doubt. She just ignored the look that Simon gave her. Taking the drink he had bought her in hand.

"Can I ask you something, Jules?"

Julia thought for a moment. "You can ask anything, you know that. But I might not answer."

Simon sighed, and nodded, thinking of how to form his question. "Why do you want Sark? And why now?"

She had been expecting these questions to come up sooner or later. And now they had, she had been trying to form the perfect answers in her head for such a long time, but nothing had ever come up. "I," she paused, frowning, trying to find her words. "Sark once told me that one day we would work together. One day we would become allies. At the time I refused to believe him. Then, we actually did work together. When I was in SD-6, and I was a double agent." She knew Simon knew of her past, as she had broken down a year ago and told him everything. "He had something I needed, and he made a deal with me. Kill my superior and I would get the object. And so I agreed."

Taking a sip of the drink that Simon had gotten her she frowned before continuing. "We worked well together. As much as I would have hated to say that then, we really did. It just seemed natural. We had a deep respect for each other, no matter how much we hated each other." She didn't know what else to say, there really was nothing else _to_ say. It was that simple, she wanted to work with the man who had caused her so much grief in the past. But she couldn't fully understand why.

And she desperately wanted to get off the subject. Simon could tell, too. "So, you're sure that you in no way can be tied to Julia Thorne."

The name sounded familiar on her lips, but saying as it shouldn't, she was a bit startled. No one who was listening in would know that she was talking about herself. And that sort of scared her.

"Yes, I'm sure, we were never caught on tape, we've never been together on a theft, and there should be no mention of you in any of my files. I wasn't that big a man until you came along, Jules."

She smiled, holding her drink out for the bartender to fill. "That sweet, Simon. But you flatter me." She grinned as she took another sip of her drink and looked at her watch. "But I need to get going. If I don't get home soon, the CIA will get worried. Maybe think I've disappeared again."

Chuckling Simon nodded, watching her as she downed the rest of her drink. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips before turning away from the bar. Simon watched her, _that woman will be the death of us all_, he thought to himself. Knowing it to true, Sydney Bristow, aka Julia Thorne, would bring all those whom she claimed to love to death. And she would do it like an expert.

Shaking his head he turned back around to the bar, preparing to get pissed drunk.

* * *

Sydney sighed as she parked in her driveway. She looked next door and saw that all the lights were off in Eric's place. Shaking her head she slowly made her way up to her front door.

She had changed back into the clothes she had left the house in earlier. Knowing full well that Michael would probably watch these tapes at sometime, and see the outfit she had gotten, putting the pieces together, realizing she was the woman in the bar.

Setting her keys down on the counter, Syd looked around, frowning. Something was wrong; something was not the same as when she had left it. Carefully she walked into the living room, she had no idea where her gun was, but she felt that she might need it. Walking into the bed room, she stopped in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded of the man who now sat in her bedroom chair.

"Why, I'm just here to see you," Paul Jamison smirked at her. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, you know, how everything was going. With you coming back and all."

Sydney could see the gun in his jacket pocket. "I don't believe you." She told him through gritted teeth. She had always hated this man, and the only reason she would ever owe him anything was because of his help with her finding Allison Doren.

"You didn't think I was just going to give you the information, then you would never see me again, did you?" Paul shook his head and laughed. "You were always a smart girl Julia, I think coming back to your old life has changed you a bit." He shrugged, standing, walking around the chair, putting his hand in the pocket with the gun.

Sydney couldn't answer, as she knew in her heart that it was true. She shouldn't have gone to that meeting. "What do you want?"

"I want you to do something for me," he paused, looking around the apartment. "You killed Allison for yourself, and we gave you the information. Now, we want you to kill someone for us."

"Why do you think I would do that for you? I left the Covenant a year ago, I make no plans on coming back."

"You'll do it, because we can take out everyone you love. Will, Michael, Eric, Marshall, Dixon, Jack. We know everyone who was ever involved with you. And you know we won't stop until we get what we want."

Sydney never liked to admit to defeat, but she knew she was defeated. "Who do you want dead?" She asked in a small voice, knowing it was the only way out of this mess.

"Julian Sark."


	6. Chapter Six

_A/N: I don't own it. Never claimed to. R/R, please! _

Her breathe caught in her throat. "W-who?" She asked shakily, not believing that the man the Covenant wanted dead was the same one she wanted to work with.

"Julian Sark, or rather, Julian Lazarey. Whatever you want to call him is up to you. We want him dead."

Sydney didn't know what to say. How could this be, she should've expected it, but somehow there was a reason she didn't. She wasn't aware of anything that he had done to the Covenant. "Why?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head about that one, Jules." Paul smirked, "It's none of your concern."

This made her angry, and he knew it. "There are cameras in here you know," she said coolly, "They'll see you in here, they being the CIA."

"Oh, I know," was the nonchalant reply. "Don't worry about my safety, Jules; I've taken care of it. The CIA is stupid." Paul gave her a smile and moved around to the other side of the chair, standing in front of her. "Now, I must go, I'll be seeing you." She put his hat back on and walked towards the door.

Sydney could scream, she didn't hear him stop in the doorway of her room, "You know, your friends seem like lovely people. I wonder how they would react if they were betraying them? Hmm, we'll just have to see, won't we." Syd spun around to glare at him. All she got in return was a dip of his hat, and Paul was gone.

Once she heard the front door slam shut, she let out a sigh. "Damnit!" She yelled, to no one in particular. How could she have been so stupid, to think that the Covenant wouldn't keep tabs on her life after they left.

Sitting down on her bed, she put her head in her hands. She would need to talk to Simon about this, but what to say. 'Sorry, Simon, once I make you go through with all this, I'm just going to kill the man'! No, she couldn't go through with it. But what to do.

Sydney laid back down on her bed, staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours before finally drifting off into a restless night.

The next morning Sydney woke up to find herself still upset about what had happened the night before.

Sighing, Syd dragged herself out of bed and into the shower. She didn't want to go into work, but she knew that she had to, or they would worry. After all, she had been out most of the night before, and if they didn't see her in work today, they would notice something was wrong.

Rinsing the soap out of her hair, Syd suddenly dropped her hands to her sides. An idea was forming in the back of her mind; one that made her stop and wonder. Not wanting to jinx the idea, she hurriedly finished up in the shower, getting out in what was most likely record time for her. Drying her hair, she put it up in a loose pony tail before getting dressed for work.

A half an hour later she found herself sitting at her desk, ding some paperwork that they had given her, trying to figure out what she remembered. She had expertly wormed her way out of taking with Vaughn about the night before, claiming that she needed to get her work done, and walked away from him quickly.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice when Dixon came up to her, making her jump when he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's alright, I should've been paying attention. Did you need something?" She asked, looking up to him, trying her best to give him a small smile.

"Yeah, actually, there is a briefing that you should be included with," Dixon gave her a strange look before heading into the conference room. Sighing, Syd looked around before getting out of her seat and following him into the room.

Marshall, Eric, her father, Lauren, Vaughn and Dixon were already in the room, so she took the empty seat next to Eric who looked at her with sympathy. She figured that he had been the person watching the fight between her and Vaughn the night before. She gave him a reassuring smile before looking over to Dixon who was trying to get their attention.

"As you may know, Agent Vaughn was on an information mission last night. Where he met up with this man," Dixon pointed to the screen and Syd tried hard to keep her face blank as Simon's face filled the screens. "Simon Walker, a thief, who was unknown until about two years ago, when he was hired under someone, but we don't know who. He started doing big jobs. Yet there was no mention of whom he was working for."

"He said he wanted Sark," Vaughn said frankly, "I don't know why there is a sudden interest in Sark, but he wants him. And from the deal he made with me last night, we've decided to make the trade."

"What exactly are we trading?" Sydney asked, knowing that to keep them from thinking of her differently, then she would have to be upset about this. "And why are we trading a terrorist?"

Jack was the one to answer this question, "He has two of our agents. And information of several others. He has said that his employer would give us back the other two, and then forget about the others if we made this trade."

"Have we agreed to it?" She asked bitterly, knowing full well that they had.

"Yes," Dixon told her, nodding, "we do not know when this will happen. But Mr. Walker will contact Agent Vaughn with the details. That will be all," when they all stood up, Dixon spoke again, "Sydney, will you stay a minute."

Sydney turned, nodding, and waited until the others had left the room, before walking over to Dixon. "Yes?"

"It's about all this Sark business. I know you don't like it, neither do I, but it's for the best."

Sydney nodded slowly, "Yes, I understand, I don't like it at all, but if it has to be done."

Dixon gave her a final nod, before she turned and walked away. This was going to be an interesting day.

Having left the meeting, Vaughn was no in his office, pacing. He didn't jump when he saw Eric standing in his doorway with a concerned look upon his face.

"I'm guessing you saw it," Eric nodding slowly, as he knew his friend was talking about the altercation he had with Sydney the night before.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, it just shocked me. Even though I should of known it would come eventually." With a deep sigh Michael sat down in the chair behind his desk, watching as Eric sat in the one in front of him.

"If you need to talk," he paused, "or not talk, you know where I live." Michael nodded and sat in gratitude of having a best friend like Eric. They fell into a comfortable silence they both sat there. Eric was contemplating how this was going to affect the working ability of everyone, and Michael thinking about the situation with Sydney, and also his wife. Who hadn't spoken to him since the day before.

Both of them so deep in their thoughts that they were startled when they heard Michael's cell phone ring. "Hello?"

_"Mr. Vaughn, it's Simon Walker. I have the details, have you a pen?" _

"Yes, go ahead."

_"Okay, the exchange will be tomorrow afternoon1 o'clock, in the same place we first met. You are allowed to have yourself, the prisoner, and two other people. More than that, there is no deal. We will have the same amount. Understand?" _

"Yes, I understand. Wait, one question, will the club be open?"

_"No, it will be closed. So nice talking to you, Agent Vaughn, say hello to the wife or me." _

Vaughn wasn't sure how he knew about Lauren, but Simon had hung up before he had the chance to ask. Michael looked at Eric before standing. "I have the information on the exchange." He said simply, replying to the questioning look on his friend's face.

Eric nodded, standing up quickly, following Michael out of his office and over to Dixon's. Where they found Jack, Marshall, Sydney and Dixon sitting there, talking something over. They all fell quiet when the two men came into the office.

"We have the details." Michael said when Dixon stood to ask them what the matter was.

"Good," Dixon said sitting back down. "Someone needs to go inform Sark of what it happening."

Dixon looked back and forth between Jack and Sydney, hoping it would be one of them, "I'll do it," Sydney said, catching the look from Dixon before her father. "I'll go now, if you'll excuse me." She stood up and nodded to Dixon and her father, before walking out of the door. Pointedly not looking or touching Vaughn as she walked past him.

Sydney waited for the gates to rise before she could proceed to where they still held Sark. Looking through the plexiglas she found Sark sitting on the make-shift bed. His eyes widened when he saw her. "They told me you were dead," he said quietly, standing, walking over to stand in front of her.

"You of all people should know it's harder than that to kill me." She glared at him.

"True, but everyone was sure you had died when they found your body in the ashes of your apartment."

"That doesn't matter, I'm alive, and you, you are being traded."

"Traded." It wasn't a question, he was just repeating what she said.

"Did I stutter, traded, you are being given to someone in exchange for two agents. Apparently this trade is important, so they are doing it without hesitation."

"You don't remember anything, do you?" Sark just couldn't get his head around the fact that she was alive.

"No, nothing." She answered quickly, annoyed that he couldn't stay on track. "But we aren't discussing that, right now. They wanted me to tell you that you were being traded. So I can go now."

"When?"

"Tomorrow, at one."

"Oh, well, then, I guess, this is goodbye. I mean, I might see you tomorrow, and I would love to stick around and work more with you. But it's just never right for us-"

She cut him off, "Goodbye, Sark." She told him icily before walking off, ignoring the wish to tell him what she had been planning.

He watched her go, thinking that she was one of the most intriguing women he had ever met, and he respected that.

The Next Day

Agents Vaughn, Weiss and Bristow, Sydney, stood at one end of the empty club. Sark sat handcuffed to a chair behind them. None of them were talking, and Sark was staring at the trio smirking. "I know you'll miss me, but you just have to move on." He said in a cocky voice, making the three of them turn.

The only one who dignified him with and answer was Vaughn, "We won't miss you a bit, Sark, and you know it." But he continued to smirk at the three of them. Looking at each in turn, he was a bit startled when he saw the pensive look that Agent Bristow was wearing. Deciding not to say anything, because as soon as she noticed him looking at her, she quickly shook her head and turned back around.

It was five minutes before one, and there was no sign of Simon Walker and the prisoners he held. But he would be there, Vaughn felt this was to important to him, and his mysterious employer, to not show. Looking over he saw that Eric was standing close to Sydney, and they had their heads bent in conversation. Michael looked at them with a sad look, knowing he would probably never have the chance to be with Syd again. Loosing himself in his thoughts, he didn't notice the door at the other end of the club open, and five men walk into the main room of the club, until Eric nudged him.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Vaughn," Simon said pleasantly. Looking around the club, "I see you can follow directions easy enough." Simon looked to where Sark was sitting on the chair. He had never actually met with Sark personally, only seen pictures and heard stories. Shifting his gaze he first looked at Vaughn, then Eric, and resting it on Sydney. Giving her an odd look, before shaking his head.

"Ready?" Michael asked, as Eric unlocked Sark from the chair, and walked him to where the others were standing.

Simon nodded and made a gesture behind him and the two prisoners were brought to stand next to him. Once they had both seen their sides of he bargain, the men were released. Sark walked to the other side, just as the two agents did. Once Simon's men had a hold on Sark, they walked out of the club, Simon stayed a bit behind. "Pleasure doing business with you all, hope to see you again." He winked at them, but more towards Sydney, and then walked off.

Shaking his head, Michael turned to the two men, "Ready to go home?" They both nodded in unison and they were walked out by the three agents.

The men put Sark in the back of a car, and then got into the front, Simon entered the back beside Sark,

"I hope they treated you well," he mused, not noticing the strange look Sark was giving him, as the car started and they sped off.

"If you don't mind me asking, but who the hell are you? And where are we going?" Sark asked, wanting to know who this man was, and what he wanted.

"Oh, me? Simon Walker. And we are going to a small house, nearby." That was all the conversation they had during the car ride. Mr. Walker refused to say anything, and Sark didn't want to pry, he would get his answers soon.

Within ten minutes they were at a small apartment complex, "Come on," Simon told him, his door being opened by the person who had been driving. He lead them into a small apartment, then telling Sark to go into a small room in the back of it. It only had a small table, a chair and some clothes on the table. Oh, yeah, there was a light too, but that wasn't important.

"You can change into those clothes," Simon told him, looking him up and down, he was still in what the CIA had given him. "Someone will be in to talk to you soon." Simon said, before closing the door, leaving Sark in solitude.

Sark tried to keep his mind empty as he changed into the new clothes, throwing the old ones in the corner, and sitting down at the table. Sighing he put his head in his arms, and closed his eyes.

Hearing the door open, he looked up, but could see nothing, as the light in the room was poor, and it was jus on him. Almost like something from a bad cop movie, but whatever.

"How are you doing, Mr. Sark?" He heard a familiar woman's voice fill the room.

"Peachy," he commented sarcastically, "Do you mind telling me what I'm doing here." He thought he could get answers from this woman, and he would try his hardest.

"Why, I wanted you here, that's all." She replied, laughing, stepping into the light. Sark's eyes widened as he saw why the voice had been so familiar.

"Agent Bristow?" He asked in disbelief as Sydney Bristow sat down in front of him.

"The one and only," she replied, grinning.

* * *

_A/N 2:_ _I know the scence with Sark and Syd was different than the one in the show, but I couldn't remember the exact words, so I just made up my own. So, don't get your panties in a twist because it's not the right words... Plus, it's my story, I'm not following the on JJ Abrams did. _


	7. Chapter Seven

_A/N: Nope, don't own them. And yeah, Thanks to everyone who is reviewing this. You guys are great! Urm, this chapter, kinda off. But okay. Lauren is no working for the Covenant... just to say. But okay. R/R, please! _

Sark could not believe it. The one person he least expected to get him out of prison, not that he wouldn't have himself, was the one person that did. He couldn't figure it out, Sydney Bristow was sitting in front of him, apparently on her own free will, and wasn't trying to kill him.

"Cat got your tongue, Julian?" Sydney asked with an evil looking smirk.

"I'm just trying to figure out what I'm doing here," he replied coolly, not at all showing the confused state his mind was in.

"Oh, if that's all." Sydney paused, looking back to the door, "Simon, come in then close the door." She told him, waiting to hear the door close before she continued. "I want to take you up on your offer to work with you."

Sark was speechless, never in a million years did he expect that one. "What?"

"I want to work with you. Only, I wouldn't work for you, you would be my partner." Sydney nodded, looking over his face, to see and sudden changes in his demeanor. When she found none, she went on speaking, "You asked me to once, and I declined, but now, I've have a chance to rethink your offer, and I think it sounds like a good idea."

The Queen of Patriotism, Sydney Bristow, was now sitting in front of Sark asking to be partners, it was something that not everyone got to see each day. "Why now?"

"Just because." She replied coldly, not wanting to go into the real reasons she wanted to work with him. She still have to figure that one out for herself.

Sark smirked at her answer before leaning back into his seat and crossing his arms, "And what's in it for me? What do I get for working for you?"

"What do you get, well, you get to stay alive. If that counts at all, if you don't agree, I'll have to let you go, and someone is going to kill you. There is no where you'd be safe, nowhere that isn't with me."

"Not true," he said smugly, "I could go to Allison, she'd keep me safe." Not that he liked the idea of any woman keeping his safe, he just liked to see Sydney get upset.

Simon chuckled at the mention of Allison's name, but was silence when Sydney shot him a dirty glance. "Nope, she won't. She's dead." Sydney told him simply, "I killed her."

Sark couldn't think of a reply to that, if Allison was dead, then something was wrong. Allison, he knew, was a hard woman to kill. And it would've taken a much strong woman to kill her. He knew that Sydney might be stronger than Allison, but he didn't think that she would actually be cold-blooded enough to kill her.

He wanted nothing less than to work for Sydney, but for the life of him he could not figure out why she had suddenly changed her mind about working with him. And why now, as far as he knew, she had no memory of the last three years, and was back on the CIA payroll.

"Let me ask you something," Sark leaned back to the table, resting his arms on the table, looking at Sydney with an odd look.

"Go ahead."

"You remember the last three years, don't you?"

Sydney was a bit taken aback by the question. Only because she hadn't expected it to come up so soon. "Yes, I remember everything, I remember everything I did, every single day, who I was with, what I did. Everything."

Sark noted the strange tone in her voice before going on. "And why the charade to get into the CIA?"

"Easy question, I need information, and I knew you were still in the custody of them." The CIA really were idiots. They would believe anything she told them, she had them eating out of the palm of her hand. "Here's the deal, Sark, I broke you out of custody because I need your help."

"With what?"

"Running my operations. I would ask Simon here to do it, but I need him doing other things. I need someone who I knew is going to run it while I have to play memory-lost-girl for the CIA, so I can get the information I need. I need someone who is willing to get their hands dirty, while I be a silent partner and sit out for a while."

"What exactly do you need help with?" Sark asked the question that Simon was thinking. He though the plan was to just break him out of the CIA building, he had no idea that Julia, or Sydney, was going to stay with them for longer than that.

Sydney looked to Simon, who was looking at her with a confused face, sighing she turned back to Sark, "I'm taking down the Covenant." She said simply, before stand, and walking out of the light's reach.

"What!" Yelled Simon, this was news to him, and he didn't particularly like it. "Why are we going to do that, Jules?" Simon ignored the look Sark had given him for using her old name. "And more importantly, how?"

Sydney stayed out of the light, but neither of the two men dared step closer to her, knowing she was deep in thought. "One, because they fucking kidnapped me. Two, I don't want them killing Sark," she didn't explain that one, but Sark knew he would get an explanation later. "And three, I think it would be fun."

Simon put his head in his hands and sighed. "You're crazy, Julia."

Sydney ignored that comment, having heard it many times before.

"What makes you think you can take down the Covenant?" Sark asked her. "What makes you so different from the others who've tried over the last three years?" Sark hadn't been fully kept in the dark in the last three years. He knew about the Covenant, and what they did. And he also knew that all the people who had tried to take it down in the past had failed miserably.

"Simply because I know the entire workings of it. I know the brains behind it. I don't know all of the key players, but I know most and can find out the rest. When I left I was higher up on the chain than the man who funded it. I know their weaknesses better than any other person. The list goes on," she said dully, her tone daring someone to argue with her.

"Wait, why do they want to kill me?" Apparently Sark had just remembered her second reason for wanting to take them down.

"I don't know, but they figure that since they gave me something I wanted, that I would need to give them something they wanted. I wanted Allison dead, they gave me information. Now they want you dead." She was still kicking herself in the ass for that one. She was so angry at herself for not realizing that they would want something in return.

"So, saying I do accept your terms, and do agree to work with you, how can you keep me alive from within the CIA, and keep me a secret from them?"

Sydney took a moment to answer that. "You wouldn't go on any missions, not until later in the game. I want you to move to my London home, run things out of there. You just need to arrange all the missions, and I will help you. But Simon here will find you men and go on missions himself."

Simon began to protest at that last statement, but his voice died in his throat, knowing that it was useless, he would be doing this whether he wanted to or not. But he defiantly wanted to.

Sark thought this all over, it was a hell of a thing to think about, and he appreciated that Sydney didn't pressure him into making a decision.

After about five minutes, Sark finally nodded. "I'll do it." Sydney could barely keep herself from hugging him. Instead she stepped back into the light and held out her hand in front of him.

"Welcome to the game, partner." She said, smiling.

Sark stood, who was followed by Simon who also stood, and took her outstretched hand in his own. He didn't say anything, but just shook her hand, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that this was most likely going to be the last partnership he would ever make.

After a second Sydney dropped his hand and turned to Simon. "You in?" She asked him, knowing what the answer was already, but wanting to hear it from him.

In response he put his hand on her shoulder, "Wouldn't miss it for the world, love." He told her, smiling.

Her smile got bigger, she had what she wanted. She had her own organization, one that one day would be greater than her mother's, and she had one of the best spies in the world, herself included, working with her.

_She is her mother's daughter,_ Sark thought as he watched her movements. _One day, maybe she will be better than Irina._

"Now, we can get out of this dark room," Sydney said distastefully, "Tell me why we couldn't just go to London like I wanted, Simon." She said as the two men followed her out of the room into a hallway.

"Because it was to far away?" Simon offered, and then shrugged, he had know idea why they didn't just go to London. " I think it had something to do with you not going to London because of the CIA."

"Oh yeah." Sydney turned into a living room like place, that had leather sofas and fell down into one of them.

Sark watched her as she flopped down into the sofa while he sat on another facing that one. Simon sat at the other end of the sofa that Sark had sat on.

"Now," Sydney began, sitting up, facing the two, "Sark, you and Simon will be flying to London tomorrow morning. We have my London house set up, everything you might need it set up there, if not, then you can ask one of the housekeepers and they will make sure that you get it."

Sark nodded, "How many homes do you own?" He asked her, figuring that she would have quite a few.

"Um, let me count. I have this one, my other apartment by the beach, my London home, my Santa Barbara home. One in Spain, one house in Venice and one apartment in Florence. Though, I don't think I could ever go back there," she said sadly, "I liked that one the best." She said quietly, and looked out the large window, Simon nodded, and Sark just sat there, not understanding why she could never go back there. But that was okay.

A silence fell over the three as Sydney looked out the window and Sark and Simon both watched her. They all jumped with Sydney's cell phone rang from her jeans pocket. Sighing she picked it up and flipped it open, "Yeah?" She asked, standing up and walking towards the window.

_"Where are you, Syd?"_ Eric's voice came through to her line. _"We thought you had followed us back to the Rotunda, but you didn't come, and security said that you weren't at your house."_

She hated how worried he sounded. She really liked Eric, that would never change, as much as something things changed, her friendship with him, she hoped, wouldn't be something that did. With a glance back at Sark and Simon, who where watching her talk, she answered him, "I went out for lunch," she lied, hating it. "I just needed to clear my head, I'll be in soon," she promised.

"_Okay,"_ He replied hesitantly. _"Be careful,"_ he said before hanging up. Syd frowned at her phone before flipping it shut and pushing it back into her pocket.

Turning around she found both of them still looking at her, and she shrugged. "It was Eric. I need to go into work now, I've taken to much time here."

Both men stood up as Sydney walked towards the door. Hugging Simon she smiled, and then shook Sark's hand, not knowing what else to do. "You know how to get me." She told them both with a smile before walking out of the door, leaving them to fend for themselves until tomorrow.

* * *

Sydney arrived at the Rotunda a few minutes later. Smiling at people as she walked in, she walked up to Eric, knowing he would want to she her get there safely.

"Good, Sydney, I was beginning to worry you had disappeared again," he joked, smiling, feeling a lot better that she was there. "Where'd you get food, and why didn't you invite me?" He asked, feigning hurt.

"I went to a small diner by my old apartment. Sorry, I just needed sometime to think."

Eric nodded, "I understand. Anytime you need me, you know where to find me." He offered, and gave her a hug, which she returned, smiling. Breaking away from the hug she smiled at her friend and tried not to show the guilt she had in her eyes. Eric gave her a large smile and patted her on the shoulder. "It's alright," he assured her before walking off.

Sydney stood there, knowing that he meant well, and she wanted to tell him what she had planned, not only because he was her friend, but because she knew he would help her. With all of it, so would Marshall, her father and probably even Vaughn. But that was the exact reason she couldn't tell them. They all had lives, she couldn't endanger them more than she had already, even though she would most likely need to use some of them, and lie to them, in the course of her endeavors.

But this was not time to think about something like that. She needed to get those thoughts out of the back of her head, to make sure that she seemed normal to everyone else. Shaking her head she walked over to the desk they had given her, Dixon has assured her that she would be given an office soon, and put her purse down, and was about to sit down when Dixon called to her from the conference room. "Sydney, could you come in here?"

Sighing she pushed her chair back in before she walked towards the room, only semi ready for what she would hear.

Sydney sat down between Marshall and Eric. Her father, Dixon and Vaughn all sat at the other table, Lauren was nowhere to be seen.

"I wanted to talk to you all to say what a good job you did this morning," Dixon nodded to them all in turn before continuing. "Sark is no longer in our custody, but we figure that he will turn upon our radar soon enough."

Sydney kept her face neutral, she wanted to laugh and tell them that her probably wouldn't, but that would be a bad thing.

Not hearing anything from the group, Dixon nodded, "For now, we have another mission at the present. It seems that the Covenant is making a deal with an unknown organization, and they are swapping a disk with their main players on it for money. We had hopes of getting that disk."

Sydney frowned, but didn't say anything. She quickly erased the look from her face before asking a question, "Who's going to get the disk?" She asked, hoping it would be her, because that would just be fun, in her mind that was.

"You, and you alone. You know what to do, this isn't a hard mission, all you have to do it switch the disk for an identical one, which is filled with music files. It shouldn't be that hard."

Sydney nodded, "When do I leave?"

"In an hour, Marshall will give you your alias and the disk you'll need. Any questions?" When Dixon saw that there were none he nodded, and everyone got up to leave.

When they had left the conference room Sydney walked back to her desk and sat down, rooting through her purse to find some chapstick. When she finally found some she pulled it out and threw her purse back down on the desk. Pulling off the cap of the chapstick she stared at it for a minute. _What the hell did I get myself into?_ She asked herself before running the chapstick over her lips.

Stuffing the used chapstick into her pocket she got up and made her way over to the Tech room to talk to Marshall.

"Hey, Syd." Marshall called from his computer chair, not looking up.

"Hey," she walked over to Marshall and stood next to his chair, watching as he saved countless music files onto a disk.

"Here, that should be full enough," he told her handing the disk to her. She took it and looked at the disk before dropping her hand. "This exchange will happen in a bar, so I made up an alias just as someone in the bar. You can pick your own dress, but make it something tight," Marshall blushed when he said that, and turned away from her.

Sydney chuckled, "Okay, thanks Marshall." She told him and walked out, shaking her head and laughing.

Walking back to her small desk, she put he disk that Marshall had given her into the purse and got ready to go. She needed to get the outfit she had worn to the club the night that Vaughn had met Simon. That one would be perfect.

Sydney brushed past Vaughn making her way out, ignoring his calling her, wanting to talk. She did not want to talk to him. Even though she was doing this all as an act, she had still loved him once. And it still hurt that he had gotten married.

An hour later

Sydney sat on a plane, her outfit in the bag beside her, and her cell phone in her hand. She was alone on the plane, except for the pilot and other people who needed to be on the plane. They were flying to London, where this was exchange was to go on. She had to contact Simon to tell him what was going on, an why they wouldn't see her before the flight they had tomorrow. But she had worked it out so that they would see her tomorrow at her place in London. Dixon had told her that she was to stay an extra day, going over the disk herself, to see if any of the names sounded familiar, or she recognized any of the pictures. It gave her a good reason to stay and go over some of the data with Sark and Simon.

Punching in numbers to her cell phone she held it up to her ear and skimmed the folder she had in front of her.

"_Walker,"_ Simon answered on the third ring.

"It's me. I wanted you to know that I'm not going to see you before you two leave for London."

_"Why not? Are you on one of your top secret missions again?" _

"No, I'm getting a disk from the Covenant. But I want you to expect me to be at the London house when you get there."

_"Alright, I'll be seeing you, Jules." _

"Bye," she said, before shutting her phone. Here was the opportunity she needed, and the funny thing was that it was just handed to her. They didn't have to fight for it. And that sort of scared her. She knew who was making the trade, and it was no one who would recognize her in a crowd, nor up close. And that was a good thing. So this shouldn't be all that hard. She had pictures of the men, and time that this was all going to happen.

Now all she had to do was get in and out alive.


	8. Chapter Eight

_A/N: Yeah, so I know the time zone things are messed up, I just didn't feel like figuring everything out. So yeah. Sorry about that one. Other than that, hope you like it! R/R please! _

Simon put the cell phone back in his pocket and walked back into the living room of the small apartment. "That was Jules," he told Sark who was wandering around the apartment, just looking, when he heard the name Jules he looked over to Simon with confusion.

"Sorry, who?"

"Right, Sydney, sorry, it's a habit. _Sydney_ said that she will not be able to meet us at the airport tomorrow as she is on a mission. But she will be in London for another day, so she will stay in the house. So we will see her tomorrow and she will leave the day after next." Simon nodded as he sat down on the couch, watching Sark as he looked around.

"Why do you call her Jules?" Sark suddenly asked after a few minutes of silence.

"She hasn't told you?" Sark shook his head and Simon sighed. "When she was kidnapped three years ago, the Covenant tried to brainwash her, making her think her name was Julia Thorne, an orphan girl who became a contract killer. Though, the brainwashing somehow had no affect on her. When I met her, she was still with the Covenant, so she still called herself Julia. It wasn't until a while later I found out who she really was. But I still refer to her using her old name."

"Oh," Sark was still a bit confused but let the subject drop, noticing the change in Simon's voice as he talked about his partner. It was almost as if Simon felt bad about Sydney, and all the things that had happened to her.

He also wondered what storied she had told about him if any. But he would wait to talk to Sydney about that. Sark sat down in a chair he had placed close enough to the window to look out it, but not close enough to be spotted from the outside.

Simon opened his mouth as if to say something, but then thought twice about it and closed his mouth. He did this a few times, before actually saying anything. "I don't know how you knew Sydney, I know you were enemies and all, but I don't know how you new her on her a personal level. But I want to warn you, she's odd. I didn't know her before, but I've heard enough things over the years to make assumptions. She's not the same person she was before. She's different now, she'll with drawl and shut you out one moment, then act like nothing happened the next. Oh, and keep her away from glass, she likes to throw it when she gets angry, which is a lot."

Sark nodded; he had figured she would be different after three years. "After she left the Covenant, what did she do?"

"She became a freelance agent. The best one I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. But she was vicious; she killed a lot to, just for the fun of it."

Sark nodded, that sounded just like him. Which he couldn't tell if it were a good thing or not, he knew he was good, but Sydney was better than him, and he couldn't imagine her doing some of the things he had done. He didn't think he wanted to. But all those years ago, he had been sincere in wanting to work with her. He knew her talents were as good as his, and he respected that, not many people were as good as he and Irina Derveko were. But Sydney was, and that made him think about her, what would happen if she switched sides. And now, as it seems, that has happened, or at least, sort of.

It was now ten o'clock. Their flight left at six in the morning. Simon cursed Julia for making them get up so early, but he knew that it was probably for the best. Sark's and Simon's stomachs rumbled at the same time. "I guess I'm hungrier than I thought." Simon mumbled, standing.

Walking into the kitchen he noted that the shelves were all empty. And the only thing they had that resembled food as a loaf of bread in the fridge. "Maybe you can convince her to get some food." Simon grumbled to Sark who stood in the doorway, all he could do in reply was chuckle.

The only booty that Simon could come up with was a few take out menus. "Let's see, we have, Chinese, pizza or… nope, that's all. Chinese or pizza, take your pick," he slid the menus down the counter over to Sark.

Looking at both of them distastefully, "Chinese." He said, not liking either choice, but Chinese was a hell of a lot better than pizza. Sark also had the mind set that you could only get a decent pizza in Italy. So that was his own fault, Domino's is actually quite good.

Simon nodded and walked to the other side of the kitchen, where Sark stood looking at the menu. "Pick whatever you want; I'll get the guards to buy it."

A little while later the two men, and their guards, all sat on the couches and floor around the small coffee table in the middle of the living room, eating Chinese food out of the cartons.

"You have enough food here to feed a small army," murmured one of the guards who sat on the floor.

"Yes, but that's the only way to eat Chinese food," Simon commented. And everyone went happily back to eating their food.

When they were all done, it was around midnight, because it had taken a long time for the food to get there and all. And then they had to eat, and clean up, and all that.

They all sat on the couches, laughing and talking, when suddenly Simon declared that he needed to get some sleep, and advised Sark to do the same. "We have an early flight," he noted dully. It was true, they would be leaving the country in a matter of six hours, and they could sleep on the plane, but they actually had to get on the plane first. Meaning they had to get up, which would be harder and harder as it got later and later.

* * *

It was just past midnight when Sydney saw the two men she needed to. She fingered the disk that was in her purse as she took the shot of vodka that the man down the bar had gotten for her. Giving him a wicked smile she stood, pushing her purse up on her arm and hiding the disk in her pocket.

Walking a little closer to the men at the table she saw one of them take a disk, identical to the one she had in her hand, and slid it across the table. Here was her chance, the other man didn't pick up the disk, so she could possibly rush over and switch them. Walking over quickly she fell and hit her hand on the side of the table, both men jumped as she hit the ground. Putting her hand on the table she stood up. "Sorry, sirs, it's these damn heels." She said, in a bubbly tone of voice, making it seem as if she were a dumb blonde, without being blonde. A spoiled kid and she did it well. Both of the men had been to busy looking at her bare legs to actually notice anything else.

"It's alright," one of them finally managed to reply to her comment.

"Bye, dolls," she gave them a fake smile and turned to walk away, "Pigs," she muttered. Then looking down into her hand she smiled, she had expertly gotten the disk without them knowing.

Exiting the bar she got into her car, a blackish blue BMW that she had purchased because of its speed the year before.

Since Sydney knew the people who the Covenant sent to make exchanges, she knew that they would be in the bar for a long time, so she had safe time to get to her London house. Which she had nicknamed 'The Castle of Hope' she wasn't exactly sure why, but she had.

On her way, she flipped out her cell phone, dialing a number she had memorized she quickly put the phone to her ear.

_"Dixon,"_ Dixon answered the phone in his office, knowing that it was Sydney. He wouldn't have answered it otherwise.

"I've got the disk, I'll be staying in London for another two days to go over it."

_"Alright, be careful."_ He told her and hung up. She put her phone back into her purse and sped off down the roads. She had decided against calling Simon because she would see them in a few hours anyway, so it wasn't a matter of an emergency.

Once she had parked her car in the underground garage, Syd made her way upstairs. She owned one of the larger mansions in London, and it amused her to look out the window, to see the people who gazed admiringly up at her house. Her house, other than her Florence apartment, this one was her favorite. It wasn't necessarily the most modern of her homes, but it was the most comfortable. She had spent a few months getting everything perfect in that house, and had spent equal time in it as she did in Florence. All the other houses were just there if she needed a safe place to go. Or someone else did.

Making her way onto the main floor she smiled at the maids and the housekeeper. "So good to see you again, Miss Sydney," Mark, the housekeeper, smiled at her. "How long will you be staying?"

"The next two days. Um, I need two rooms prepared, please. Simon and another friend are coming to stay here. I don't know how long though," she gave him a warm smile before disappearing into the giant living room.

Her laptop lay on the table in the middle of the room, walking over to it, she turned on the stereo. Music filled the room as she sat down on the couch, turning on her laptop. She was still wearing what she had in the bar, but she didn't care, she didn't feel like changing into anything else right now.

Once the laptop was warmed up, she slid the disk into the drive and waited for the contents to load. This disk was supposed to have everything that the Covenant had. Deals, people, everything. And now she had it, well, the CIA had it too, but more importantly, she had it. Meaning she could do anything with it she wanted. Which was going through the information, on her own, and then making a copy of it, but not the whole thing. She was going to delete some of the information on it, before handing it over to the CIA. Sitting back she waited for the disk to fully load onto her computer before she could go through all the files. She was anxious; she wanted to know the most secretive things that went on in the Covenant, those she didn't know already, that was.

Sydney had not been in this house for almost three months. She didn't usually do any work out of it, because she didn't want to invade the homey feeling of it all. But since she couldn't go anywhere else right now, she would be working here. Meaning soon it was going to be filled with people. Sydney shuttered when she thought about the last time it had been more than just her, Simon and her servants. It had been last year; Simon had talked her into having a party. A fancy party, she had people from all over come. Her mother had even come.

The whole thing has been a disaster from the start, there had been so many people. All that she knew. It had been an elegant party, but the problem was, that someone had decided they wanted to get into a fight about Rambaldi.

Saying that they were at the house of the Chosen, and apparently more people knew about the prophecy than she had thought. The men fought over what the prophecy really meant. And the night ended horribly, with Sydney trying to be comforted by Simon, who had no idea about any prophecy until that night. It was just bad. She had promised herself that she was not going to ever have another party. She was content to just attend them.

When she no longer heard her computer making the noise it did when she downloaded things, she pushed her thoughts deep into the back of her mind and focused on the topic at hand. It was almost two in the morning and she knew that she would get no sleep tonight. Sighing she began to look through the files. Half of them she knew about, and would read later. The ones she stopped to look at where the ones with people she had either never heard of, or didn't know anything about.

She read her own file. She had known most of the details, but she was still amazed at the strength she had. It had taken them almost six months to completely break her, or so they thought. Once she had finished reading her own file, she began to look through the others. There were only a few folders on people she had never seen. By the time she had finished looking through the entire thing it was about five six in the morning. Sighing, Sydney noticed that she had a total of five more files to go through. All new people.

Her thoughts drifted for a second, she was tired, she could normally stay up for long hours without sleep, but now they were beginning to take a toll on her body. Simon and Sark would be getting on the plane right now, and would be here in a few hours, she had arranged for them to be picked up at the airport upon arrival, her person guard was going to pick them up. As he was the only one she trusted to do the job.

A soft knock on the living room door startled her out of her thoughts. The person opened the door, it was Mark. "I come bearing lots of coffee, Miss Sydney. And some food." She smiled; Mark had always taken care of her like a father would. And she loved him like a father. He placed the tray of food and coffee down on the table next to her laptop. "You look tired, Miss Sydney. You should get some rest."

Leaning back into the sofa, she smiled up at him, "I will, just as soon as I finish this work." When she saw his reprimanding look, she furthered, "I promise."

He shook his head a little, and began to go out of the room, "I worry about you Miss Sydney," he said sadly and planted a fatherly kiss on her forehead. She smiled at him, thinking how great it would have been if he had really been her father. "Don't forget, you promised," he said as he exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Pouring herself some coffee, she didn't put any sugar in it, if she did, she would fall asleep, and she needed to stay away for a little while longer. Taking a sip she cursed herself as she burnt her tongue.

Turning her attention back to the computer, she held the cup in one hand as she went through the remaining files until she had one left. This one didn't have a title, but she didn't note that at first. Clicking it open, she almost dropped the cup in her hand as she gazed upon the picture that was staring back at her.

She calmly set her cup down on the count and got up off the sofa. Walking over to the stereo she turned it up louder. She didn't want anyone to hear her scream.

* * *

Simon and Sark had been sitting on the plane for five hours. The light had just gone on to say they were landing. They both were grateful, they didn't particularly like sitting on a plane filled with crying babies for five hours.

Once they had landed, they waited for everyone to get off, Simon lead the way, knowing who would be waiting for them. Getting off the plane, Simon saw Jules' guard waiting for them in the main building of the airport. "There's our ride." He motioned his head for Sark to follow him, and they walked up to the guard.

"Mr. Walker." The guard nodded, "This way." He pointed his hand and followed the two as they walked through the masses of people.

"How long ago did you leave her?" Simon called back to the guard.

"Half an hour maybe," was the gruff reply, the man didn't like talking to people who weren't Sydney.

Simon nodded and they spent the rest of the way in silence. Once they were in the car, Simon and Sark sat in the back, both looking around the place they were born.

About fifteen minutes later they arrived at a large mansion, "This is it," Simon said to Sark, who was staring up at the home. They went around to the back and entered the underground garage. Sark noted the expensive cars that filled the garage, and reminded himself to compliment Sydney on them.

Once the car was parked, the two men got out of the car, Sark followed Simon up t the main level. Both were assaulted by incredibly loud music as they entered. The first person Simon saw was Mark. "Good day, Mr. Walker," Mark greeted him, "And Mr. Sark, I presume," he gave them a smile when he was confirmed by a nod from Sark. "She's been in there since she got home, at two this morning. She promised me she would sleep when she was finished. But I don't think she ever did," he said, with a meaningful glance at Simon, who nodded understanding.

"You're welcome to go in at your own will. I'll have your stuff put in your rooms." Mark nodded to both of them before turning down the hallway.

"Come on, you'll get the tour later." Simon told him, walking off in a different direction that the one Mark had gone it. Sark followed him closely, as they entered the room where the music was coming from.

Simon walked over to the stereo and turned it off, the silence was just as loud as the music had been. Sydney was standing by a window, she didn't make a move to show she noticed them, in fact she didn't move at all. Sark noticed the open laptop and tray of food on the table in the middle of the room. All of it was untouched.

"Sydney?" Simon called out to her, not going near here, a little afraid of what she might to.

"Hmm?" She turned to them, finally, with a look in her eyes that scared them both.

"What happened?" Simon asked her, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Oh, nothing," she said dismissively. Walking over to her computer, she pushed the top down, but not before Sark saw a picture of someone who looked familiar on the screen. Frowning he looked back up to her. The look hadn't left her eyes, but she was till trying to smile as if nothing had happened.

"You two must be tired," she said suddenly, cutting off Simon as he was about to say something. "Let me take you to your rooms, and then I'll give you a tour later on tonight."

Walking past them she brushed arms with Sark, who was startled by the touch, kind of. He noted that Simon looked upset; he was frowning at Sydney's back. Shaking off his worry he followed her, and Simon followed him.

They worked their way upstairs, and Sydney stopped one of what seemed like countless doors, "Simon, this is your room." She said, even though he knew it was. He stayed here every time he stayed in the house, as it was his favorite room. Nodding her opened the door; it was exactly as he had last seen it.

"Alright, but I want to talk to you, Jules." He said, glaring at her, before he disappeared into the room.

"Right then. Your room," she said as she turned her attention to Sark. Who had still not said anything. "I hope you like it here." She said, although he thought that it sounded more like she was saying it to himself.

She stopped at a door just after they turned the corner. "This is your room," She said, opening the door to a very large room. "My room is right across the hall," she pointed to the door that was, as she said, across from his. "If you need anything, just ask." She said, before she turned and went into her own room.

Shaking his head, Sark entered his room and closed the door behind him. "This will certainly be interesting," he sighed as he lay down on the bed.

* * *

The Rotunda

Vaughn sat at his desk, rocking himself back and forth with his feet. He thought of Sydney, as far as he could tell, and he had just gotten into work, there had been no word on whether she had the disk or not.

He looked up when there was a knock on his open door, it was Dixon. "We received word at about midnight. Syd has successfully gotten the disk, and is staying in London for today and tomorrow to go over the information." Dixon told Vaughn before he turned away from his doorway.

A flash of white gold caught his attention. Lauren, he had seen nor spoken to her in the last two days. And he didn't feel like dealing with her now.

After a few minutes had passed, Michael found Eric standing in his doorway. "You remember Allison Doren?" Eric asked him. Michael nodded, he remember, she had killed one of Syd's best friends and posed as her for God knows how long.

"Yeah, well, she's dead. Cops in Florence just found her body."

Michael sat up straighter in his chair and motioned for Eric to come in.

"The body was so disfigured, they had to do a DNA test from the teeth, but it was her. The autopsy report said that she had been dead for at least five weeks." Eric shook his head, "I read the report, and saw pictures, Mike, and it was horrible. Whoever did this must have hated her."

Both of them fell silent, they could only think of one person who had hated Allison more than anything; Sydney. But she couldn't have, or could she? They had only found Sydney a month ago, and from the report she had been dead longer than that. Was it possible that Sydney had killed her before they found her?

Both of the men wanted to dispel that theory from their heads, the Sydney they knew and loved would never do something like that. But then again, as they would both come to realize, she was not the Sydney they had once known.


	9. Chapter Nine

_A/N: Haha second update in one day! Hope you like it. And thank you so much for reviewing, they made me smile today. And yeah, hope you like this new chaper. Oh yeah, if you've got any suggestions for this story, or anything you want t see, then please tell me and I'll try and work them in. R/R, please! _

The look for Allison's murderer came up fruitless. Other than the fact someone had gone to such great lengths to alter her appearance, there was no evidence that she had, in fact, been murdered. The autopsy had concluded that she had died of heart failure. So they were going on the fact that someone had altered her appearance before dumping her body. The Florence police had handed the investigation over to the CIA's office in Florence. As they claimed it was a matter of the US intelligence.

They also had no leads. No one that they thought would want to kill her. Save one, a Sydney Bristow, but the problem there was no one believed that it could have been her. She had only recovered her memory four weeks ago, Allison had died five, unless that the person Syd was pretending to be had a vendetta against her.

It had been five long hours from when Michael and Eric had found out that Allison had been murdered. And they still refused to talk about their suspicions that Sydney had something to do with it. Not their Sydney, she would never cold-bloodily kill someone just because she didn't like them. They still thought that she would only kill someone to save her own life, and otherwise, it wasn't an option.

Michael left his office and went looking for someone who would know how to get into contact with Sydney, a cell phone, or another way. The first person he came to was Jack. Stopping him as he was entering the Rotunda.

"Mr. Bristow, do you know how I can get into contact with your daughter," Vaughn asked the man who would most likely know. But one could never tell with Jack, he was just too cold, Vaughn and most other people in this office were afraid of him.

"She had her cell phone," replied Jack coolly. "You of all people should know that, Agent Vaughn, you being her handler and all." Jack smirked at him before walking away, leaving Vaughn to glare at his retreating form.

It took him a minute before he lost sight of Jack and walked back to his office, closing the door behind him. He had to talk to Sydney, she had a right to know that the person who killed her best friend was dead. Sitting down at his desk he pulled his phone closer to him and picked up the receiver. Dialing a number that he had memorized, he waited as the phone rung.

_"Hello?" _

"Syd, it's me, Vaughn." Well, duh, who else would it be.

_"What do you want?"_ She sad, her voice changing from when she had picked up the phone. It was more distant, colder, but Vaughn pushed that away, he needed to tell her.

"Earlier today, Weiss got some information from Florence. Allison Doren," he paused, "The woman who-"

_"I know who she is,"_ Sydney cut him off.

"Right, well she turned up dead in Florence. Someone murdered her." There, it was out, now all she had to do was react.

_"Was that all you wanted?"_ Sydney asked him, which threw him off, he thought she would be happier than that.

"Yeah," he said in a defeated voice.

_"Right, then I'll see you tomorrow."_ And that was it, she hung up, leaving Vaughn to listen to the dial tone, thinking about how things had gone horribly wrong somewhere. The woman he loved was not supposed to act like that towards him. But then everything changed, something happened and he lost his Sydney. The day before he was going to propose to her.

But no, she disappeared and he gave the ring to Lauren. _What a great idea that turned out to be,_ Michael thought to himself before setting the phone back into it's cradle.

* * *

Sydney flipped her phone down and threw it own on the table. An annoyed look on her face.

"Have an argument with Agent Lover-Boy?" Sark smirked at her expression. Which was rewarded by a look that could possibly kill.

"Ever call him that again and I shoot you," she warned him. And he lost the smirk on his face, knowing it was true.

"Well then, who was it? I mean, you don't usually get that annoyed when answering your phone, Jules," Simon told her after he had stopped laughing at the other two bicker like kids.

"It was Vaughn, wanted to tell me they had found Allison's body." She shrugged, it was no great matter to her. She had killed her, what did she care if they found her body, she was done with her now.

"Ah," Simon nodded, apparently he had played some part in her death as well. Sark had asked him about it on the plane ride, wanting to know what had happened to his former girlfriend. He had told him what happened, and was now viewing his partner in a whole new light. After hearing that story he could now fully believe that this partnership was real, and that Sydney Bristow was a fully changed woman.

"Now, for my next question," Simon continued, "are you going to tell us what you found on that disk that upset you so much?"

She looked up from her laptop, at which she was currently making a copy of the disk for the CIA. "Oh, that." She said simply, not wanting to answer the question, and trying to find a way out of it.

"Yes that, and don't think you can get out of answering, I know when you lie, too, remember that, Jules," Simon told her, frowning at her.

Sighing she closed her laptop half way as it copied the disk. "I knew most of the information on the disk, but only a few things were new to me. I had gotten to the last one, and it wasn't named like the rest, I opened it, it was someone I knew." She said, she didn't say who.

Simon was about to ask who, but Sark answered his question before he could even ask it, "Will Tippin."

Sydney's head shot up, "How did you know?" She demanded of him, a look of fury growing in her eyes.

"I saw the picture earlier, before you closed the laptop," he shrugged. He knew what will looked like, having tortured him before.

"Who's that?" Simon asked, apparently Sydney had not told him who Will was.

"He was my best friend," she answered in a hurt voice, as if the name brought back memories that she didn't want to remember. "Then I disappeared, Allison tried to kill him." She stood up, began to pace before she went further. "He was supposed to be in Witness Protection," she muttered, more to herself than to either of them.

Suddenly, she had her coffee cup in her hand. And before either of the two could stop her, the cup was flying through the wall where it smashed and coffee coursed down the wall. Sark and Simon simultaneously stood up, both walking around the table to Sydney, Sark reaching her first, he grabbed her wrists when she tried to get something else to throw. "Let me go!" She screamed, tried desperately to get out of his grip.

As she fought, his grip got tighter. She pounded against his chest as much as she could, but finally he got it so she was pressed against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, Simon watching in amazement, he had never been able to do that, she would have thrown him across the bloody room if her had.

Sydney still fought him, though her attempts go weaker and weaker as she began to cry. Finally she gave up and sagged against his chest, sobbing into his shoulder, and he continued to hold her, though his grip let up a little. He placed a hand on the back of her head and bent his head down to whisper in her ear, "Everything will be okay," he promised her.

After ten minutes she had finally calmed down enough and pushed away from his warm embrace. Wiping her tear stained face she backed away from both of them. "Sorry," she mumbled, to both of them. Not meeting either of their worried eyes.

Even though they would both kill you if it was of profit to them, she knew that they had a heart somewhere in the their body. And they would both care for her as much as they could. And they would worry about her, it was to be expected. Simon credited her for making him as known as he was today, because it was her fault. And Sark gave her the credit for getting him out of jail, and then keeping him alive, knowing what it meant she would have to do.

After a moment she sat down, and motioned for them to do the same, she got tired of standing after a while. Wiping at her face once more, she opened her laptop back up and tried her hardest not to break down crying again. The computer was beeping at her to say that it had finished making the copy of the disk. "Now, to erase," she mumbled to herself. Clicking on random files, most of the new ones. She hovered over Will's file and both men noticed her expression change. She deleted it and the expression was gone. Quick as lightening, it was, and she liked to keep t like that.

"What are we going to do today?" Sark asked her, after a few more minutes of silence. He never was one for waiting, he would rather know what they were going to do.

Sydney thought over this before answering. "Whatever you want. I don't have anything planned. At least not for the rest of the day." She finally brought her gaze off of the computer screen and looked at Simon first then brought her look sight over to Sark.

She tilted her head, as if she was studying his face, his expression, him in general. But when he met her eyes she quickly looked away and blushed, and that startled him.

Simon didn't notice their strange behavior and stood up, "I have some people I need to see," she declared, walking around the table to kiss Sydney on the cheek. "Try and refrain from breaking anymore cups, babe." He joked, which got Sydney to smile.

_She's beautiful when she smiles,_ Sark thought to himself as her watched their exchange. _Hell, she's beautiful all the time. _Sark quickly vacated those thoughts when he found she was looking at him rather oddly. "What?" He demanded.

Sydney blushed again, "Sorry, you just looked kind of funny there." She looked away thinking that she had made him angry.

"Don't worry about it," he said, in a much softer tone today. "Right, so I don't know of anything that I could do today. It's not like I can just go take a stroll in the park or anything." He commented sarcastically.

Sydney shrugged, "You could if you wanted to, even though the park isn't all that nice these days." She said, not having caught the sarcastic tone in his voice.

"How about you give me a tour instead," he suggested, after all he hadn't gotten one the night before, seeing only his room, her room, Simon's room, the living room and the garage. Oh, and some hallways, but he knew there was much more of the house he had yet to see.

"Sure," she stood, waiting as he followed her example and stood as well. "Well, this is the living room," she said, and laughed. The first time he had heard her laugh in a long time. "Follow me," she beckoned to him with her hand and walked out of the door on the other side of the room.

He quickly followed her, not wanting to loose her so soon.

A few rooms later they had finished the downstairs, which was fully of really big rooms, even a ballroom. Sydney lead them up a different stairwell, one that he hadn't seen before. He was lead into a room that was dark, once the lights were turned on, he could see that it was filled with books. Three walls, floor to ceiling, were packed full of books, on the fourth wall there was a fireplace, and windows. There was a desk with papers and books littered over it, with two old looking leather chairs. "This is the library, the best room in the house," Sydney told him from behind. Sark found himself agreeing with that statement, he liked this room more than any other one he had seen so far. "You can work out of this room if you want to," she said softly, knowing that he liked it.

But a cold-blooded assassin wasn't supposed to like libraries, so he just turned to her and shrugged, "Alright," he said as if it meant nothing to him. She giggled, knowing that he was just trying to mask the fact that it was totally out of character for him to like the room. "Come on," she said, smiling, turning out the lights. Sark was disappointed as he followed her out, but knew he would be spending most of his time in that room.

They had finished the upstairs save one room, which she had avoided. "What's in there?" He asked, she couldn't avoid it anymore. So she just sighed and pulled a key out of her pocket. Unlocking the door she pushed it open and turned on the lights.

She held open the door so he could go into the room first. Once he had stepped through the threshold he stopped. It was a torture room, just like one SD-6 had. He turned to her in shock, not believing that she would ever have one of these. After all, they had both found themselves in a room like this before, and they had not been the one doing the questioning.

She nodded, knowing what he was thinking, "It became necessary after a while," she told him softly, she didn't spend lots of time in here, it depressed her, and there was only one key. But he would need one as well. "It's helpful sometimes," he understood, she had killed Allison in a similar room. "I'll make you a key," she told him before shivering.

Noticing the shiver he walked out of the room, with a grateful look upon her face she turned out the lights and closed the door, locking it behind her. "And that's the house, I think you've seen everything." She nodded, not thinking of anything else that he had yet to be seen.

"I haven't seen your room," he teased her, stepped closer to him, so close they were almost touching. Them being that close made her breathe catch in her throat. She looked up at him and saw something she never thought she would see in his face, admiration. And he was just as shocked to see something flash into her eyes as well.

They both pulled back at the same time, and wouldn't meet each other's eyes. They both would admit that they found the other attractive, but as far as they had known, that was the extent of it. But apparently it wasn't.

"You're right, I've seen everything," Sark said rather hasty. This was an uncomfortable situation they had put themselves in, and neither knew how to get out of it.

Thankfully Mark decided to show up from down the hallway to save them. "Excuse me, Miss Sydney, you have a phone call."

Sydney gave him a warm smile, "Thank you, Mark, I'll take it in the library." He nodded and walked away, and Sydney and Sark made their ways back to the library.

Sydney inhabited the chair behind the desk while Sark sat in one of the seats in front of her. "Hello?" She asked, picking up the phone and leaning back in her chair.

_"Jules, it's me." _

"Hi, Simon." She said, Sark leaned back into the seat and crossed his legs, and his arms over his chest.

"_Listen, we have a bit of a problem. As you know they found Allison's body in Florence."_ He didn't wait for her to reply, but kept talking. _"But now it seems that they have opened your secret room in the Florence apartment, and found some things that have mad them suspect you."_

Sark watched as Sydney's face twisted in rage, "What!" She screamed into the phone, "How the hell could they do that? You promised me, when I got that room put in, that there was no way to get into with without the damn key!" She yelled, angry, Sark didn't know what about, but he knew he would know soon enough.

_"Jules, calm down, I didn't know they could, the people who put it in assure me that they couldn't break in. But now we have to discuss what you are going to do." _

"I'll figure it out," she barked into the phone before slamming it back down in the base. "Damnit, damnit damnit," she cursed, before looking up at Sark. "It seems that the God damn CIA broke into a room in my Florence apartment, identical to the one we just vacated. And now they suspect I had something to do with Allison's death."

"But you do," Sark pointed out the obvious.

"Exactly!" She exclaimed stand, walking around behind her desk, "They can't know that I had anything to do with it. It would ruin anything."

"Then maybe you should have thought of that before you killed her in that room, and then gave yourself up for the CIA to take back," Sark leaned further back into the seat as she shot him a murderous glare at the statement. "I mean no harm," he defended himself, holding up his hands, "I was just saying."

She sighed, "I know, I know." She nodded, before sitting down in the window seat. Sark stood up and walked over to her, sitting next to her. Their legs brushed against each other's and they both looked at the floor for a minute.

Then Sark heard her sniffle, he looked over to see she was softly crying, putting his arm around her, he pulled her close and rested his lips on her hair, "Don't cry, it'll be alright." He crooned into her hair.

She nodded, "I know, but I just don't want to deal with the things I didn't think of first." First the whole killing Sark thing and now this, what was going to be next. These past few days had been hard on Sydney.

"I know, love, I know," Sark told her softly, putting his other arm around her and hugging her to his body. They stayed like this for a few more minutes until she stopped crying.

She lifted her head and looked at him thoughtfully, "What?" he asked her softly as he caught her looking at him.

"Nothing," she murmured before looking down. She had the sudden urge to kiss him. She didn't know where the feeling came from, but she was surprised he she felt hand on her chin, lifting it so she was looking at him. They looked at each other before Sark leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips.

* * *

Michael sat on his phone, listening in disbelief to what the person on the other line was saying. "Okay, bye," she said, before placing the phone down. He looked over at his best friend sadly.

"What is it?" Eric demanded, "Was it something about Syd?" He asked, worried that it might be something serious, like she had disappeared again or something.

"Kind of," was the reply. " That was the Florence division. It seems that they have finally broken into the last room in the apartment we found Syd in." Eric looked at him blankly, so he continued. "Do you remember when we took down SD-6, how there was a torture room in the back, a sound proof room?"

Eric nodded, "You aren't trying to tell me that Syd had one f those in her apartment are you?" He asked laughing, but then he saw Michael's face. "Oh, my God, you're seriously saying that?"

Michael nodded solemnly. "Yes, and as it turns out, there is some questionable materials in that room. Sydney is officially a suspect in the murder of Allison Doren." The way he said it made both of them get this feeling in their gut that everything was not going to be okay this time. Sydney was not going to be able to talk her way out of this one. Nor was she going to be able to come up with something. Which wasn't good. They would just have to wait until tomorrow to talk to her themselves.

"I need to tell Dixon," Michael said quietly, not wanting to. He wished he could just keep this between them, but it was different because someone else had found this out. If it had been just the two of them on their own they probably would have kept it hidden, but they both knew hat if one of them didn't tell Dixon that there would be hell to pay. Probably even the suspension of them both.

"Let me come with you," Eric said and they both stood up together. Michael didn't have the heart to turn him down, so he just nodded and walked out of his office towards their Director's.

They both entered to find Dixon talking to Lauren and Jack. Michael ignored the look that Lauren gave him, not wanting to deal with it right now, he had to many other things on his plate right now.

"What is it?" Dixon asked when he saw the looks on both of their faces. Sighing Michael relayed what he had found out on the phone to the other three of them. Dixon's face seemed to fall when he heard that, Lauren showed some smug emotion that Michael could have slapped her for, but it was Jack's that angered him the most. Not because it was the opposite reaction than he had expected but because there had been no reaction to get angry about. There was nothing, no change in hearing that his daughter was currently the only suspect in a murder case.

But what didn't register with Michael at the moment was that Jack never showed emotion. The only person he had ever showed emotion with was he daughter. And even those events were limited. But thoughts like those weren't going through his head, no he was thinking rather of what he knew about this, and why wasn't he surprised.

The anger must have shown on his face because Dixon suddenly spoke. "Sydney gets home tomorrow," he stated, as if reminding himself, "We will bring her here as soon as she gets in, and we will question her. Bu that's it, I must insist that none of you talk about this to anyone who is not in this room. It is imperative that Sydney not feel as if she is being attacked when she gets here.

* * *

Sydney had been in a daze since Julian had kissed her. She couldn't believe that it had happened, and expected herself to wake up any second from the dream that she must have been in. But she never woke up, it never happened, she was in reality, and he had really kissed her.

And the scary part was; she had liked it.

It was now midnight. They had made it through the rest of the day without making any mistakes. Like getting to close, as they both knew it wasn't safe if they did.

Simon had come home in time for dinner, and he and Sydney had spent it talking about what she was going to do when she got back. It was obvious that she was going to be taken into custody as soon as she landed, and it was also obvious that she couldn't not go back tomorrow, as that would ensure that she had been tipped off, and would have made her seem guiltier. They decided that it would be best for everyone if she went back as scheduled, with the disk.

After dinner Simon had gone straight into his room, leaving, again, Sark and Sydney alone. Not that they minded, though. Sydney found herself curled up in her chair in her bedroom, Sark found himself lying on the bed. Both of them thinking of the other.

Midnight came around and she needed to get some sleep. She had to fly in five hours back home, she could sleep more on the plane, but she did need some sleep now, it had been a stressful day.

But before she went to sleep she needed to see about something first. Opening her door she crept across the hallway, over to Sark's door, knocking on it softly, she opened it, "Julian?" She called out softly.

"Yes?" He was surprised; he hadn't expected her to come to him tonight, "Is something wrong?" He inquired, now worried, he stood up, walking to where she was standing.

"No," she said softly, "I just," she let her voice drift off before she kissed him hard on the lips, "I just needed to do that." She looked down, away from Julian's blue orbs. "Good night, Julian, I'll see you soon." She knew she wouldn't see him before she left.

Before she back out of the room she kissed him again and then turned and half ran out of his room, leaving him startled at what had just happened.


	10. Chapter Ten

_A/N: Thanks again for the reviews! They are so great. Here is another chapter, I would of had it up yesterday.. cept I didn't. So yeah. Again the time thingers are kinda messed up in this, but I think you can overlook that. And sorry ahead for all you Will fans, but it had to be done._

I don't own anything, cept the stuff I do own, and I own none of the characters. R/R please! 

Sure enough, once Sydney had landed from her flight, an agent appeared at her side. "Ms. Bristow, if you'd follow me, please." He took her by the elbow and pulled her towards a large SUV that was parked nearby.

"What's all this about?" She demanded as she was helped into the car.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to wait to discuss things with Director Dixon. I have direct orders from him to bring you straight into the office," was the reply, and that was all she got, after that, the entire car ride was silent. Sydney sat in the back in a huff, she was upset, and they obviously thought she had done something, but wouldn't tell her why right now.

Once they had arrived at the Rotunda, the agent escorted her to Dixon's office. Only leaving her side when she was inside the room so he could stand by the outside of the door. Inside the solemn faces of her father, Dixon, Vaughn, Lauren and Eric, greeted her.

"What's going on," she demanded once she heard the door close. "I'm getting off the plane and then I'm being forced into a car, being told that I'm not allowed to go home I don't appreciate this at all."

"Sit down, Sydney." Dixon told her, calmly, point to the chair that she stood behind. She did so, but she never took her stare off him. "As, I'm sure, you're aware, Allison Doren was found dead yesterday."

"Yes, I aware, but I have yet to see what any of this has to do with me." She told them, looking around the room to find all eyes on her. The most confused being Vaughn's.

"Well, there was a room, in your apartment we found you in Florence. Now, do you remember the torture rooms they had in SD-6?" Dixon saw her nod before continuing. "Well, so it seems, that that's what the room was. And there were some things in that room that were questionable. Things that could cause heart attacks. Syd," Dixon sighed and rubbed his forehead, his voice changing. "Allison died of a heart attack. And as of right now, you are the only suspect, because you are the only person who we know would have a motive.

"You're telling me that you think I killed a person." She didn't wait for any of them to answer, but went on, "And that the only reason is because I might have a vendetta three years old. Three years is a long time, as some of you might know," she made a pointed glance at Vaughn, "Isn't it possible that she could have angered some else? She was a murderer for God's sake." Sydney was done; she was done being accused of this she had no memory of.

Eric spoke up, "She's right, we didn't take her line of work into account," he said from behind her. "It's happened before," her added, and she watched as her father nodded.

Jack, Lauren and Vaughn had said nothing during all of this, as Dixon had told them not to. They all could be subject to their own feelings towards Sydney getting in the way of the matter at had. Not that Dixon and Weiss didn't, it was just, they had more of a reason.

Rubbing his chin, Dixon nodded, "Yes, I know. Listen, you're free to go right now, but listen, if we get any more word, more incriminating that what we have already, I will have to take you into custody." Dixon told her with a stern face.

Sydney stood up, "Fine, just make sure it's something more solid than that," she said coldly, before walking out of the room. Michael followed her out.

"Syd! Would you stop, I need to talk to you." He called from the doorway, watching as she stopped and turned on her heel to face him.

"Do you want to accuse me of something else?" She asked him, her voice dry, she obviously didn't want to talk to him; it was to be expected though.

"Last night, when I called you. You were short. Why didn't you care why she was dead? She did kill your best friend," he said, getting right to the point.

"As much as you all would like to believe, I try to not care to much about murderers. Again I say, three years is a long time, even though I don't remember anything about those three years," she lied to him, "I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't murder someone because she killed someone else. I'm not that petty." And with that, she turned around and whisked away from him. "Damnit," she muttered when she was out of ear reach of him.

Defeated, Michael walked back into Dixon's office, ignoring the questioning look her got from Eric. "Something's wrong here." He said, almost to himself.

"I know, but what can we do? We already have her being watched," Dixon told them, sitting down behind his desk.

Jack stood up, "I'm sure my daughter is innocent here, but we do need to find who did this. I'll work on finding someone who might know anything." He told them, before walking out of the room. Leaving the four of them silently staring at the floor.

"Well," said Lauren standing, "As it is early in the morning, and that meeting proved fruitless, I'm going back to enjoying my day off." She said snootily before walking of.

Michael gave her a dirty look; she could be such a bitch sometimes. Eric shook his head, "You're going to have to talk to her sometime," he said as they both exited Dixon's office as well. "As much as I like your company, you can't sleep on my couch forever."

"I know, and thanks for letting me sleep on said couch. I'll figure this out soon enough," he promised before parting with Eric and they both walked into their separate offices.

Sydney had been given an office, it had been set up while she was in London, so she was now in there, looking through her computer, setting things in order and just basically looking around. It was weird, having her own office; she had never really had one, not since SD-6 had been watching her, seeing if she had what it took to join them. Leaning back into her chair, she looked at her purse; which she had set on the table. The disk; she had forgotten to give Dixon the disk. Rooting through the purse, she picked out the disk and made her way over to the Tech room. Knowing she would find Marshall in there.

And, just as she had expected, there he was, playing Xbox and eating gummi bears. When entered the room he jumped up and tried to hide the Xbox, "Uh, hi, Syd, I was just, um, working some things out on my computer." He said, being to sweat, as he did that when he was nervous.

"It's okay, Marshall," she said with a smile, "I just wanted to give you the disk from the Covenant." She held out the disk in her hand, waiting for him to take it. When he did she smiled again. "You can look through it now, or wait until you're done this level," she winked at him before leaving. Marshall watched her leave, thinking how much he had missed her while she was gone.

And the sad thing was, she was thinking about missing him when she had been gone. She had missed him so much, his babble, and everything. And she would miss him after she was gone. Him and Eric were the two people she would have a hard time hurting, the others she would get over soon enough.

Going back into her office, she sat down behind her computer, and logged into her account. An email concerning something random popped up onto her screen. Something about someone's birthday, unimportant to her.

Sydney closed out of her account, opening the solitaire game Marshall had put on the computer, knowing how much she loved her.

Pulling out her cell phone, her personal one, as she what two, one identical to the one she used for work, so they wouldn't know anything different. She dialed Simon's number, and played her game until he answered.

_"Walker." _

"Simon, it's me."

_"Hello, Julia. I didn't expect to hear from you so soon."_ He told her, as he knew about the CIA thinking that she had killed Allison; which she had, but that wasn't the case.

"Yeah well, I got them to think that it could have been any number of people, saying as three years is a lot of time for her to piss someone off."

Simon chuckled, _"Yes well, the CIA aren't very smart are they?" _

"Nope, but I was calling to make sure everything was okay, there. I left Sark some directions in the library, what to do, and who to call to do it. But I'm just checking."

_"Yeah, we've gotten everything under control here. Just try and stay out of trouble there, alright?" _

"Yeah," she smiled, "Bye, Simon," she said before hanging up on him. Leaning back into her chair she frowned. _This is going to be interesting to say the least,_ she thought to herself.

* * *

Sark had found a new laptop waiting on the floor in front of his door that morning. There was a note on the top of it that simply said 'You might this handy.'

He knew it was from Sydney, as he had heard her put it in front of his door before she left. He was a light sleeper; the quietest noises woke him up, all because of what he did.

Since then he had been in the library, looking through the paper files she had left him and the files on the computer. The ones one the computer were things all information, the written ones were all cases, things she wanted done sometime in her absence. He also found a cell phone, with another note, 'this, too.' Was all it said. Looking through it he found her number, Simon's number, Irina's and a few others he would find useful.

Sark had been in the office for a few hours before he heard a knock on the door, "Come in," he called.

Simon was the one who had been knocking, "Figures you would choose to work out of here. It was Julia's favorite room you know." Simon said as he sat down in a chair in front of the desk. "Never knew why, but then again, I never liked books as much as she did." Simon shook his head, and Sark gave him a dry look.

"Did you need something?"

"Ah, right, Julia just called. And as we thought, as soon as she landed, she was taken into CIA custody."

Sark leaned back, a worried look in his eyes, "Is she alright?"

"Oh, yeah, nothing our girl couldn't get out of. She told them that she probably wasn't the only one who hated her, three years was a long time for her to be killing. So they let her go."

The worry in his eyes had died down and he nodded, "Good, now lets just hope that she can keep convincing them."

Simon nodded, crossing his arms over his chest, "Do you have everything you need?" He was obviously bored, and wanted to go steal something.

"Actually, I have a job for you." He watched with amusement as Simon sat up straighter. "I need you to steal this, for us," he said as he pushed a folder across the table to him. He eagerly picked it up and began to flip through it.

"You want me to steal this bomb?" He asked after a few seconds.

"Yes, but that is only part of it. There are three parts, I want you to get this one, and I will have two other men I've already contacted get the other two. Sydney said something in these files about it being essential for taking down the Covenant." Simon nodded and stood.

After walking to the door, he turned around and looked back at Sark, "I hope Julia is right about you." He said simply, before leaving the room and shutting the door tightly behind him.

_I wonder what he meant, hoping she was right about me,_ he wondered for a brief minutes before turning his attention back to the laptop. The last thing on the computer that was of any interest to him, actually all of it was interest to him but okay, was the file that had made Sydney so upset in the previous two days. He read through the entire files, as he had neither heard nor seen any of these men before. Some of the files were bigger than the others. Like Sydney's, or Julia Thorne's. That one took a long time to read, as it had so much information in it.

It went over all of the kinds of torture she had gone through during the first six months she had been with them. It went over every surgery she had while with them, all to get her eggs from inside her. It went over every killing she had done, and every thing that she had stolen. Every person she had worked with, during her two years with them was listed. And it also had things on the year that she had been away from them. Seems as if they were monitoring her, either it was that they were afraid of her, what she could do, or they wanted to kill her. Maybe it was both, Sark would wait to ask her next time he talked to her.

Finally he was at Will's file. This file, he knew, was the one who had made Syd so upset. Opening the file he noticed that the picture was the first thing that she had seen, she hadn't even gotten to the rest of the file until later. Sighing he began to read.

So it would seem, that the Covenant recruited Will just after Sydney had left. It said in his file that he had been brought in to try and get her back. But the efforts went unnoticed by her, and she remained in the dark. _Until yesterday,_ he commented sarcastically. Reading the rest of the file he found out that Will was working as a hit man, and was actually very good at what he did.

After he had finished with Will's file, he could see why she had gotten so upset. This was her best friend, or was her best friend, who had had his life almost ruined several times by this line of work. And now here he was, working for the people she probably hated the most.

Looking at the files around the desk Sark noticed a smaller piece of paper he hadn't noticed before. It was written sloppily and small, and from reading the top, which said 'note to Sydney' he guessed it was to her. Looking at the rest of the not he was stunned to find that it read 'Kill Will" underlined several times in a red pen. "Great," he muttered, that was a fine way to get over it. Killing Will.

Pulling out his cell phone, he picked Sydney's number out of the phone book. She answered on the third ring,

_"Yeah?"_

"Sydney, you can't kill Will Tippin." Sark told her seriously.

She didn't speak for a few seconds, _"I can kill whoever I want, and I hope you remember that." _She told him angrily before she hung up on him. Apparently he had angered her. So he called her again, she phone must have had his number on it, saying that it was him, because she didn't answer it the second time.

"Damnit," he yelled, storming out of the library. He had a feeling Simon hadn't left yet, saying as loud music was coming from the living room. Storming down the stairs, he found Simon lying on the couch with his arm thrown over his eyes. Stomping over to the stereo he quickly shut off and watched Simon jump off the couch.

"What! Oh, it's only you," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "What'd you want?" Simon asked, sitting back down.

"Call Sydney and tell her not to kill Will," Sark demanded, trying to keep from yelling.

"Why?"

"Simon, I swear to you, if you do not call her know," Sark let his voice die off, before starting again calmer, or seemingly calmer, "She cannot kill him."

Simon raised an eyebrow at Sark, before pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number without looking at the phone. "I'll try," he said bring the phone up to his ear, "But I won't guarantee results." Simon told Sark seriously.

_"What?" _Sydney was obviously angry over something.

"Jules, it's me." Simon told her, before going on, "It had been brought to my attention that you are planning on killing your friend Mr. Tippin."

_"He isn't my friend,"_ she snapped into the phone, _"and if you are planning on trying to talk me out of it, it won't work. I'm killing him, tonight."_ She said in a finalistic voice before hanging up on him as well.

Simon looked up to Sark, "Sorry, mate, Julia won't let up on something 'til it's done. This is one of those things." Simon shrugged and Sark got angrier. Simon had the feeling that he didn't want to see Sark mad, so he stood up, "I'm just going to go, get into contact again with my men, and maybe, speed up the process a little." Simon said nervously, walking out of the room.

"Damnit, damnit, damnit, " Sark yelled to himself. He had just as much temper as Sydney did, but at least he could control his better. But he did realize that there had been a time when he would have done the same thing. Sighing he walked into the kitchen. He needed something to eat.

* * *

Sydney was angry enough; she had just received two different calls in reference to her killing Will. They apparently didn't realize that she needed to do this. Just as she had needed to kill Allison. And so she would. She knew where he was staying, so would go to his apartment tonight, and shoot him. Simple as that, she had taken out the information of his file that listed where he was located now, from her computer hat she had given Sark, and the file she had made for the CIA.

Tonight would be the night, she didn't care what was going to happen, and all she knew was that he would be dead by the end of the night.

Lost in her thoughts it took her five minutes to notice that there was a person standing in her doorway. "What?" She snapped, having never seen this person.

Wincing whomever it was stepped forward with a package, "Ms. Bristow, this came for you," he said timidly. Standing up, Sydney walked around and took the package from his hands.

"Thanks," she said coldly, obviously this was one of the aids they had just gotten the other day. One whom had never seen her angry before. Good, new blood to scare.

"Was that all?" She asked him, sitting back down at her desk. She watched in amusement as he quickly left the office, closing the door behind him. Snickering she opened the package and dumped out the contents in on her desk.

Staring down at it she tilted her head. There was a knife, a gun and a slip of paper. '_To help you get the job done -Paul'_

She had forgotten all about Paul, and what she was supposed to do for them. "Great," she said, stuffing the gun ad the knife into her purse, they were both small enough to fit with everything else in there, and ripped the package and the note into tiny pieces that she proceeded to throw away. Looking at the clock on her computer she noticed it was almost seven forty-five. She had been in her office most of the day; my how time flew when one was lost in thoughts.

She needed to go home, but first she needed to pay a visit to her good friend Will.

Standing up she grabbed her purse and walked slowly out of her office. Looking around one more time she turned off the lights and shut the door tightly, it didn't need to be locked right now, there was nothing bad in it. Looking around the Rotunda, she caught a few stares of people as she walked through it on her way to the door. Once she had reached it, she suddenly turned around, feeling that someone was watching her. And sure enough there was; Lauren Reed was watching her, actually she was glaring at her, and coming closer to her.

"I'm going to find out what you're up to," she whispered threateningly to Sydney when she was close enough.

Sydney just stared back at her with a confused expression, "I think you must have me confused with someone else, I'm not up to anything." She said back, not bothering to whisper.

"Oh, you are up to something. But don't worry, deny it all you want, I'll find something," she told her, it would have been scary if she had been talking to anyone other than who she was.

"Now, see here, Lauren," Sydney said stepping closer to her, they were just about the same height normally, but Sydney's heels were higher, "I don't appreciate people threatening me. I tend to get angry," She leaned down the little distance to her ear and whispered this next part, "And people tend to get hurt when I get angry." She whispered in her ear before standing straight up again and smiling at her. "Good night, Mrs. Reed." She said sweetly before turning and walking out of her presence, leaving Lauren standing there staring after her, smiling the whole way out.

Sark had been on a plane for several hours. And he hated planes. He had figured that he needed to stop Sydney from doing whatever she was planning on it, and since she wouldn't listen to him on the phone, the next best thing was to go stop her in person.

* * *

He hated planes, so if this was all for nothing he would be greatly angered. During the flight he had searched every file in her laptop. He found no notation of where Will currently lived. But he hadn't fully believed that Sydney would leave that on her computer, knowing that it wouldn't settle well with him. So he had found the original disk. Yes, she had deleted the information off of her computer, but not off the disk, so it was incredibly helpful. He knew know where Will Tippin lived, and just hoped he got there before Sydney did.

It was now eight o'clock, Sark had just gotten off of the plane and was now rushing through the airport to get a car, he would need one, the house in which Will currently lived was no where near the airport.

Finally, after arguing with the car rental place, Sark found himself speeding down the LA freeway, ignoring the honks that followed him as he passed and cut off many people.

According to his files, Will lived in a high-end apartment over near where Sydney and Francie had previously lived, you know, before the fire and all.

Cursing Sydney as he was driving, of course, he secretly loved the way she would stop at nothing to get revenge, but he would never admit that to anyone, not even himself.

With an angry sigh, Sark pushed the gas pedal down harder, just trying to get to Will before Sydney did something she would regret.

* * *

Sydney had gone home before she went to Will's house. She had changed into new clothes, she had always liked to go buy new things before she planned on killing someone. And this kill was no different. She dressed up, not only because technically it had been her job, she found it fun.

She found herself outside his apartment complex in a matter of five minutes. It was ridiculously close to where she used to love, but she couldn't think about that now. Walking into the building, she smiled at the door man and walked up to the front desk.

"Hello, Miss, how may I help you today?" The woman at the front desk said with a very fake smile.

"Yes," she said with an equally fake pleasant voice, "I was wondering what apartment Mr. Tippin lived in. He was expecting me five minutes ago, and I've forgotten the apartment he lives in."

The lady looked her up and down, as if trying to find out if she was trying to scam someone of not, but when she saw how nice she looked, she registered the smile again. Only this time it was a little less fake. "Sure, Mr. Tippin lives on the seventh floor apartment." She said, turning back to her work, seemingly done with her.

"Thank you," Sydney told her as she waked away. Walking over to the elevator, she went into the first one that had opened, this wasn't a generally big building, as it was built like her Florence one. Pressing the button for the seventh floor, she smiled at the older couple were now entering the elevator.

They got off onto the fifth floor, and with a smile again she was left in solitude for the remaining two floors. Reaching into the purse she dug out the knife she had gotten earlier and bent down to stick it into her right boot. The gun, she picked up and stuck it into her jacket pocket. _Better safe than not,_ she thought firmly to herself.

Usually she felt a rush out of killing, it gave her a sense of power that had been taken away from her while she as with the Covenant. Well, actually she had never had it when she was with the CIA either, but that was a whole different story. But this one was different. She knew Will, or she had used to, it had been easy to kill Allison, but only because she had had Francie's face, and wasn't actually Francie. But this was really Will, in the flesh, her old best friend, one whom she had shared everything. And then she had died, and everything changed.

A minute later she was one the seventh floor, exiting the elevator she walked the quick steps to the door, taking her time, there was no need to hurry. Ringing the doorbell, she leaned on one leg, waiting for him to answer the door.

Which he did, a minute later, "I thought you said it would take thirty minutes for-" his voice died when he saw who was at his door, "Syd?" He asked in a small voice that made her really want to hit him then and there. But she couldn't, not yet anyway. Instead she smiled.

"Hey, Will," she said in a warm voice that had surprised her, she didn't think that she could be that nice to him, acting or no.

"Come in," he said after a while, still supposedly getting over the shock of her being there, it really being her. She walked past him, her smile not faltering and he closed the door behind her.

He lead her into the main room of the apartment, "I thought you were dead, Sydney." Will told her truthfully, before she could say anything.

_You are going to wish I were,_ she thought to herself, the smile still plastered on her face. She let it waver a little before she said anything, "So did everyone," she sighed, "But I'm back now," she offered, fake tears gathering in her eyes.

"Do you want something to drink?" He asked her, walking into the kitchen, leaving her alone in the room.

"No thank you," she said while reaching into her jacket and pulling out her gun. Turning to the kitchen she found Will in the doorway, standing there holding a gun pointed at her. "God, this scene is so overplayed," she muttered, before bringing the gun up.

"Geez, Syd, did you really believe me to think you'd of found where I was if you had forgotten everything in the last three years? I'm not that stupid, drop the gun," he demanded, motioning for her to throw the gun over to him. But she couldn't do that, now could she? No, she couldn't it would defeat the purpose.

"And you didn't really expect that even if I had I wouldn't have found you eventually, did you? I mean, I know you aren't _that_ stupid, Will." Shaking her head she tsked at him. "Well, apparently you are."

"You can't kill an assassin, Syd, you of all people should know that." He told her calmly.

"Oh really? I beg to differ," she said, "I've made a living off of doing just that." She thought a minute before shaking her head, "How about this, we both drop our guns, and make this more interesting. A battle of skills. See whom the Covenant gave more power." She grinned wickedly, and Will dropped his gun, to which she replied by dropping hers as well.

"This should be fun," Will muttered.

Sydney nodded in agreement, and then got tired of waited, running towards him she punched him in the cheek, right below his temple. "Just to get things started," she grinned.

Returning the favor Will threw a punch back at her, which hit her in the jaw. She wiped the little blood in the corner of her mouth with her tongue. Delivering a quick kick into his stomach, the hit sent him falling back into the kitchen. She followed him, and he kicked her legs from under her, she landed hard on her back, and he stood up, an when she was just about to kick her in the side, she grabbed his leg and threw him across the short distance into one of his cabinets, one that proceeded to shatter, as it was full glass.

Flipping herself up, she was greeted by a punch to her chest, which made her fall back and hit her head on the wall. Before she knew it, Will was in front of her, had turned her and hit her head against the wall, right above her temple. "Damn," she muttered before kicking out behind her and catching Will's knee with her heel. They have to be good for something, because Will dropped and Syd made a run to get into the other room.

Will managed to catch her foot right as she was in the doorway, so she fell, but was still able to reach her gun. They both stood up at the same time, Will pulled a hidden gun out of the small of his back and manages to pull the trigger before she could react.

But thankfully she managed to dodge the bullet so it just grazed her arm, instead of fully hitting her in the chest.

"Why do this Sydney?" Will asked, as she as held her arm, wincing as she looked up at him. "Rather, who do this for?"

Then she remembered, her entire reason for this, she momentarily forgot the pain in her arm and held up her gun, "This is for Francie." She told him through her teeth, and then pulled the trigger.

* * *

Sark had ran into the building that Will lived in as fast as he could, not bothering to turn off his car. "I need to know where Will Tippin lives," he told the lady at the front desk breathlessly.

"I'm sorry sir, he doesn't want any visitors right now." She had obviously seen the state of him, and had decided that he shouldn't go see him, Mr. Tippin would get upset.

"I need to know which floor he lives on," Sark demanded. Growing more impatient by the minute.

"I can't let you up, Sir." She was obviously getting mad.

So was he, he pulled the gun out of his pocket and held it up to her face, "If you don't tell me where he lives, I will shoot you," he told her in a calm voice that probably scared her more than the gun did.

"Floor seven, floor seven!" She cried hysterically, scared out of her mind.

"Thank you," he said, before running to the stairs, the elevator would take to long, and he was running out of time, Sydney was defiantly there, he had seen her car out front.

Getting to the seventh floor her found it was a single door, which was closed. But what he heard was more concerning to him. Once he had gotten to the door he heard a gun shot, which was closely followed by another one. Trying the door, he found it locked, so he proceeded to kick the door open.

Rushing in, with his gun drawled he stopped when he found Sydney calmly sitting on the kitchen counter, a dead Will Tippin on the floor, blood pooling out of his lifeless body.

He first stared at the body, then at her. Her arm was dark with blood; her could see where a bullet, or a knife, had grazed her arm. And there was blood coming out of a cut in her hairline. Seeing him she smiled, and jumped off the counter. Her gun was still in her hand.

She stopped in front of him and smiled, "Told you I could kill anyone I wanted," she said before she walked past him, handing him the gun in her hand. "In heels too," he heard her mutter as she left the apartment, leaving him standing there holding two guns and looking down at a dead body.

_Gotta admit it man, she's good._ He grinned, looking down at the body, throwing the gun she had given him down by Will's lifeless body. _Someone will clean it up_, Sark had never been one to stick around at a murder scene, so he followed Sydney's lead and left.

Closing the door behind him just as the elevator dinging closed. Heading towards the stairs Sark shook his head and put his gun back into his pocket. He reached the ground floor just after Sydney did, and he followed her as she left the building, and her car, and began waking. Seemingly to a random place, but she stopped at an empty lot.

Sark walked up beside her and there they stood, silently looking at the empty place where she had lived, and supposedly, had died.


	11. Chapter Eleven

_A/N: Yep, new chapter. I hope it kinda explains about Will. And erm, I probaly did contradict myself somepoint, sorry about that. Oh yeah, and Irina's screen name might be different because I can't remember if that was it.. And I've lost my Season 3 disk set. I hope you like it. R/R, please! _

"Will's dead," she said as she slid into the booth, facing a man who's face was partially covered in shadows.

"I figured as much," was the seemingly uninterested reply.

"Why'd you do it?" Sydney asked him, bitterly, heart broken as she had, ultimately, been the cause of death for her two best friends.

Paul sighed, leaning forward so she could see all of his face, "At first it was to get you back," he said truthfully. "You were to dangerous, Julia, to not be with us. And we thought that if we could use one of the people you cared about to get you back, and then we would, eventually, come back. But you never noticed; our efforts to make him known went unnoticed by you. After a few months we were going to let him go, but then we noticed a few changes in him. He became colder, and we decided to run tests on him." Paul sighed, running his hands through his hair, he seemed tired. "As it turns out, he was part of Project Christmas; one that was kept hidden, it was the same project, only administered in different ways, the one you were given and the one he did were the same thing, only his had to be triggered."

Sydney shook her head, "But he wasn't on any of the lists that we found, there was no mention of him ever having gone through that."

Paul nodded, "There were only ten kids who went through that version. And all of them except two survived. So they never mentioned it, there were no records of it; they never wanted it to be discovered, so there were only a few people who knew about it." Paul sat back in the booth, his face going dark, Sydney didn't seem to notice, "These two children would have a normal life up until a series of events occurred. There was always a chance that they never would, and the skills would remain dormant in them forever. It would have been easier for these events to occur if more of them had survived, but since they didn't, most efforts were dropped. We don't know exactly what the triggers are, but we were able to track down the last remaining administer of that version. And he gave us the two names of the people who survived, and sure enough, Mr. Tippin was on the list."

Sydney was speechless, her friend had been programmed the same as her, and it was so ironic that he had been researching something, and it had happened to him.

"Mr. Tippin would never have turned out as good as you or the other child, as he had started so late. But he was getting to be amazing. Certainly one of our best." Paul paused, as if he was thinking about it, "I'm assuming that you didn't inform the CIA of his involvement. As he wouldn't be dead right now," Paul watched as Sydney nodded slowly. "We should have known you would have gotten that disk." Paul smirked, thinking about how she was the best agent he had ever seen, save maybe her mother, but she was quickly catching up to her.

"We are done here," Sydney said bitterly, not wanting to talk to him anymore.

"You know, you can come back to the Covenant anytime you'd like Julia, it's where you belong, not with the CIA."

"No thank you, I'm done with the Covenant, I'm done with you."

"Ah, yes, but remember our talk, you have to kill him."

"I'm working on it," she said stiffly, standing she began to walk from the table. Stopping, she turned on her heel and looked at Paul with a tilted head, "You said there were two surviving children. Who was the other one?"

Paul shook his head, "Julian Sark." He said simply, before standing himself and walking away, leaving Sydney staring after him.

She suddenly wished he hadn't come alone, she wanted someone there, but she knew she couldn't have had anyone accompany her.

Making her way out of the bar she found herself on the busy streets of Paris. "Such a beautiful place," she mumbled to herself as she began her short walk back to her hotel.

It had been five days since she had killed Will, and it still hadn't gotten any easier. After she had left Sark at the lot that was her old house, she had basically disappeared. Well, she had called her father, and Simon, to tell them both that she needed time away, and she would be back eventually. But other than that she hadn't talk to anyone. In a couple of days she would go back, but she needed to face her demons in solitude. Which was exactly what she had been doing. In fact, that meeting with Paul had been the first time she left her hotel room since she had arrived, and that was only because she was the one who had wanted to see him.

Simon had wanted to come down and get her, to bring her to one of her numerous homes. But she had declined, she had also made him swear that he would not talk to Sark and tell him where she was. She had made her father make the same promise, only not to tell the people she worked with where she was. Make them think she was somewhere else. So far she had not had any interruptions. Simon had called once to tell her that Sark was looking for her, and was incredibly angry that she had left. And had a suspicious feeling that Simon knew where she was.

But it would all be over in a few days, and then she could go back to living lies.

* * *

Sark was now in London. He had left LA and returned to London as soon as he left Sydney. Figuring she would go back to her apartment, and forget everything. But it was not so. Sydney didn't go back to her apartment, no, she got on a plane and left the country. No one seemed to know where she was, or at least they wouldn't tell him. He had the feeling that Simon knew where she was, but as he didn't completely trust Sark as of yet, he told him nothing.

Of course this made him angry, he thought that she was stronger than that. Even though he approved of what she did, as he had done it himself previous times, he was angry that she didn't tell him; they were supposed to be partners.

He had tried to find her, pulling security from everywhere he thought she could be seen. But he soon came to realize, something the CIA had yet to notice, that if she wanted to stay hidden, she would do so.

So Sark retreated back to London, he wouldn't leave the library, not even to sleep, he instructed Mark to leave his food by the door, he would get it. He would only leave to shower, and change his clothing, but only when everyone else was asleep in the early morning hours.

He wasn't pining, rather he was working, working on ways to bring down the Covenant, he had done all the things Sydney said he should do first, so now it was his turn to make up things do to.

Sark was currently taking a break from working, and was looking around the countless books that covered the three walls. Picking out a book he opened it to find it was 'The Great Gatsby' one of his childhood favorites. Settling down into a chair he began to read.

After about an hour, Sark had begun to drift off to sleep, and was awakened by the vibrating of his cell phone. "Sark." He said gruffly into the phone.

"It's me." Was the simple reply to his rudeness.

"Ah, Agent Bristow, I was wondering when you were going to contact your partner." He said coldly, still angry with her.

"I deserve that," she said, agreeing, which was new to him. "But I needed to deal with some things. And I didn't want anyone with me. I'm almost done here, and I'll be coming home either tomorrow or the next day."

"Ah, well I'm glad you felt that you could trust me enough to tell me you were coming home. Honestly Sydney, you're supposed to trust me, it would have been enough even to call me, and tell me you were going away-"

"You know we can't trust anyone in our line of work Sark," she said coldly, in a voice that scared him a little. "I didn't call you because I couldn't. If I had called yon, you would have tried to come get me. And don't argue with me, because you would have. I know you don't believe me, but this was all for the better. We need to talk when I get back." She said sadly before hanging up on him, before he could say anything.

Sark sighed and shut his phone, tossing it onto a stack of papers on his desk. Rubbing his neck he shook his head. He needed sleep, but that could come later. He couldn't think of what Sydney would have to talk to him about, but he guessed he would have to wait and find out.

Looking down at the book he shook his head tiredly, knowing he wouldn't be able to read anymore without falling asleep. Setting the book down on the table, no need to mark his page as he has read the book so many times before, he stood and looked around. He really like this place, it reminded him of his old house, when he lived with his mother.

Walking out of the room, he looked around before hurrying to his room. Locking the door behind him he slipped off his shoes and shrugged off his jacket. Not bothering to pick it up off the floor, he sat on the bed. Slowly he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it onto the small pile that was forming on his floor. He was to tired to care, He slid off his pants and kicked them over to the pile, laying down clad in only a pair of black silk boxers he pulled the covers over his head and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Two days later, Sydney strolled into the Rotunda as if she hadn't been gone at all. She looked much better then she had the last time anyone had seen her. Granted the last time they had she was being accused of murdering someone. But there was something different about her, maybe it was that she wore her long dark hair down and curled. Or maybe it was the fact that she looked like she had just relaxed for a week and did nothing that stressed her out. Perhaps it was both.

Looking around the large room she first noticed her father talking to an aid. When he noticed her there he quickly left the aid and walked straight towards her. "Are you okay?" He asked her quietly, his face concerned.

"Yes," she said just as quiet, "I'm sorry, I just needed to clear my head."

Jack nodded, understanding, or trying to. "Well, everyone here has been worried." Jack sighed, he didn't want to bring this up, but he couldn't think of a better time, "Sydney, Lauren Reed is pushing for your arrest." He said bluntly.

Sydney just stared at her father, "She can't do that right? I mean, they can't just arrest me because I had a vendetta against Allison, can they?" She asked, a little scared that they would arrest her, it would ruin many things.

"She seems to say that you have threatened her." Jack shook his head; they needed to watch out for Lauren, she seemed to have it in for her.

Sydney looked down, embarrassed. "I, um, sort of did," she paused, "threaten her, I mean. But only because she threatened me first!" God, how old was she, five?

Jack stared at his daughter, "Damnit, Sydney, you can't let Lauren get to you. She's just angry because Vaughn would choose you over-" Jack felt his voice die off as she stared in shock at what he just said. "Oh my, Sydney, I'm sorry." He couldn't believe he had just said that, even though it was true.

Sydney blinked back the tears that she knew were needed in this situation. "It's okay," she said quietly. "I, um, need o get to work." She said, not looking her father in the eye, and turned and quickly went into her office, shutting the door behind her.

Jack stared at the closed door for a moment before turning and walking towards Dixon's office. Knocking on the door, he stepped into the office. "Sydney's back," he told Dixon, who was sitting at his desk.

"Jack, come in," he motioned for him to do just that, and so he did. "How is she?" He asked, seriously concerned for his former partner.

"She's fine, she just needed some time to herself, to think things out." Even though, honestly, neither Jack nor Dixon understood what would make her disappear like that. Jack had had to tell Dixon the truth, and they together made a cover for her, but they didn't want to press the matter, make her feel more uncomfortable than she already did.

"Jack, I hate to do this, but we need her to stay here," Dixon said seriously, if she left like that the first time, on a day like that, then who knows what people could get into their heads.

"I know, I'll talk to her, but I think she just needs time." Jack started to walk back to the door, ready to leave as Dixon nodded.

"Jack," he called out, causing Jack to turn and look at him, "keep her safe." He said, as she was family to him. He needed her around.

* * *

Sark hadn't heard from Sydney in two days, not since she had called him. He didn't want to call her, because he didn't want her to think he was weak. Because, apparently, it would be weak for him to call her. I don't know, but okay.

After sleeping for most of the day he had gotten that call, he still kept to himself, but left the library. And now spend more time in places where other people could access without being yelled at.

He hadn't told anyone about what had gone on about after they left Will's body. Hell, he hadn't told anyone about her killing Will. It would mess things up.

But he remembered it clearly.

She just stood there, if she knew he was standing behind her, she made no notice. She stood there staring at the empty lot where she had her demise. He said nothing as she walked around, going through the events of that night. In her mind she could still see the house as it was, she could hear Francie laughing at something Will said in the kitchen. 

It was all so real to her, and yet, not at the same time. Tears glistened in her eyes as she saw herself shoot Allison, after finding out that she killed Francie, and at the same time, she saw herself and Francie watching chick flicks and eating ice cream.

It all seemed to be too much for her, but she never showed it. Not in any physical way, Sark watched in wonder as he watched this incredibly strong woman try and unsuccessfully hold back her tears. She had been trying, and she couldn't get away from it. This was her past, and she couldn't run forever.

After an hour of them standing there, Sydney finally looked right at him. Without saying anything she walked up to him, and stood there for a minute, just looking at him as he looked down at her. Then, she walked away. And Sark knew that he couldn't follow her this time, she needed to be by herself; no matter how unsafe it was.

So he let her, and then she disappeared, untouchable for a week.

He had let his thoughts consume him, so when Simon entered the room he didn't notice until Simon had tapped him on the shoulder. To which he returned buy jumping. "What?" He barked, not wanting to own up to the fact that Simon had scared him.

If Simon knew he had startled Sark he paid no attention to it. Instead he sat down on the couch across from him. "Julia went back to the CIA today," he told Sark solemnly, as if he didn't like it, which he didn't, but he played it off as him being depressed about it.

"You knew where she was, didn't you?" Sark asked him, it wasn't a random question, if you think about it.

Simon didn't answer for a minute, "Yes, I knew where she was, she called me the night she left."

"Where'd she go?"

"Paris."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"She told me she'd kill me if I did. Because' you'd go after her if you knew where she was." Everything Simon said was true, had he known, he would have gone and found her. "It wouldn't have been good, so I kept it from you."

"So you're loyal to Sydney, who is my equal, yet you don't trust me with issues that concern the two of us?" Sark asked, tilting his head, angry that Simon hadn't told his what was going on.

Simon shrugged, "I promised Julia I wouldn't. I know promises don't mean much of anything in the world we live in. But they do to me," he paused, "and to her." Simon looked at Sark for a moment and shook his head, "She just needed time alone, to work things out." He told him quietly, before exiting the room.

Sark stood up and went to the window seat and sat down. His head was resting against the windowpane and he gazed outside. He hadn't been outside, as it had been rainy most of the time he was there, or he was working.

He told himself that he would get out soon, maybe take a walk somewhere. He planned on going to see his old home. It wasn't far from here, the one he lived with his mother in, before she died and he was shipped to boarding school.

Shaking his head he refused to think of his mother, or the father he never knew, he would save those thoughts for later. But for now he focused his thoughts on his job. He needed to contact some people, but that meant he needed to find said people.

Sark sat there for a few more minutes before he shook his head again and stood. He needed to get some work done today. Then later he would think about calling Sydney.

* * *

Sydney had been looking around for evidence on what Paul had said to be true, all day. She had hardly talked to anyone, and wouldn't leave her office. She knew in her mind that she would never find anything; it was all just a waste. She would never find anything that said Will Tippin was in Project Christmas, neither was Julian Lazaray.

Paul had been right, there was no record of anything other then the Project Christmas she went through. She couldn't think of anyone that would know. Someone trust worthier than Paul, even though she knew Paul wouldn't lie to her. She still didn't want to believe him. And she didn't want to talk to Sark before she found out from a different source.

You could ask Irina, the thought suddenly popped into her head. She couldn't remember the last time she had spoken with her mother, but she would defiantly know. And she knew a way to contact with her mother, a code they had set up a few years ago.

Logging into her account she quickly went to one of those, online media places, one where you could post messages for people to respond to. Both her and her mother watched this site, as they had set up a protocol using it if they ever needed to speak with each other. Quickly writing out that she was a graphic arts major and needed some image caps on a certain episode of the show the site was for.

Now all she had to do was wait, the answer would be in an email, and she hoped that Irina would catch on soon. Replying so they could talk.

She didn't have to wait long, because an email popped up onto her screen, opening it she found that it was the correct response to the one she had posted.

Sighing with relief she clicked the 'chat with user' button that came with the email.

**Handel4me**: Sydney, it's been a while.

**Jt15: **I know, but I needed to talk to you.

**Handel4me: **What is it?

**Jt15**: There was another version of Project Christmas, one only two out of ten kids survived.

**Handel4me: **Yes, I know of it, a contact of mine ran it.

**Jt15**: Who were the two children that survived?

**Handel4me: **Will Tippin and Julian Lazaray.

"Damnit," Sydney muttered, so it was true.

**Jt15: **Does Sark know?

Handel4me: No, it had never come up. Why do you ask?

Jt15: Because it's about to come up.**  
Jt15 has logged off.**

So it was true, Sark was the last remaining kid who had gone through this program. And he didn't even know about it. Sydney knew she should tell him, but she knew he wouldn't like it, and that he would get angrier with her. Another thing she didn't want, but maybe it was for the best.

Taking out her cell phone she dialed the number but toyed with pressing the little green button. After a few moments she pressed it and tentatively held it to her ear.

"_Sark"_ he answered on the second ring.

"Sark, it's me."

_"Oh, hullo." _She noticed his voice change, maybe he wasn't glad to hear from him?

Forgetting the sound of his voice for now she pressed on, "I need you to do something for me."

_"Oh really? And what's that?" _

"I need you to get someone to fake a meeting. Saying they want to talk to me, and me alone, to get the CIA to let me go. Because I can't just disappear anywhere, anymore, not for a while at least." She paused, to breathe, and then continued, "I need to talk you, something we can't talk about over the phone." She finished, shakily, she was upset and she needed to talk to him.

Apparently Sark noticed the upset tone of her voice and quickly agreed, _"I'll go do it now_." He paused, and before hanging up he asked her softly, _"Are you alright, Sydney?"  
_

She didn't answer for a minute, "I just need to talk to you." She told him, hanging up the phone. She sat there, holding the phone against her lips, trying to figure out why she was so upset.

Leaning back into her chair she sighed and held back the tears in her eyes. She was still upset that her own father had programmed her when she was younger. Maybe that was it, maybe that was the problem, it wasn't that Sark was in it as well, it was that it hit to close to home.

Just then, Eric came into her office, "Syd," he said, outwardly breathless. "We just received a phone call, from one of Simon's men. Wants to meet, with you. Come one," he motioned for her to come before he turned and quickly went into the conference room. Sydney stood and followed him out of the room, stuffing her cell phone in her pocket as she walked.

Finding everyone standing around with worried looks upon their faces, even Lauren, which surprised Sydney. This had happened before, and it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Sydney," Jack addressed her from his spot, "we have just received a call, from one of Simon's men. Simon would like to set up a meeting with you."

"So?" She didn't get why it was a big deal, she would go, meet with them, and that would be all.

"Sark will be there," Vaughn said from the other side of the room. "And they both are only going to speak with you. We don't know why though, the man wouldn't say."

Sydney stared at all them "So I'll go talk to them. I can hold my own, and if they wanted me dead, they probably wouldn't call to set up a meeting, they would just do it."

"She's right," Jack agreed, "They wouldn't have set up a meeting just to kill her. I think we should let her go." He looked at Dixon who looked to be deep in thought.

"Fine, she'll go."

"But-" Vaughn started, but was silenced by a look from Eric. Apparently he didn't want Sydney to go to this meeting, by herself at least.

"When is the meeting?" Sydney asked Dixon quietly, everyone looked to her.

"Tonight, at ten, in a club in Rome." Dixon told her, nodding slowly. "You're going to leave in a few hours. You'll go alone, and since we don't think they will try anything, you won't need anything."

Sydney nodded, and smiled at them all, "Don't look so upset, it'll all be fine." She said before she then turned around and walked back to her office. "It'll all be fine." She muttered again, as if to insure herself that it would be.

* * *

Sydney entered the nightclub, she had been there before, she and Simon used to use it as a meeting place before she came back. They were going to be in the back room, a private room they could talk in. Heading back towards the room she gazed at all of the people on the dance floor, all whom were completely oblivious to the fact that there was a wanted terrorist in the back room.

A guard stood in the middle of a curtain that closed off the room to the public eye. Upon seeing her approach he nodded to her and stepped aside, holding open the curtain for her. "Miss me?" She asked as she stepped into the room.

Simon and Sark both looked up from the laptop that was in front of them, and stood when they saw her. "You know it," Simon answered, Sark just looked at her with a face she couldn't read.

She smiled, and walked over, sitting down on the other side of Simon, motioning for them to sit down as well. "Sark said it sounded important." Simon urged, wanting to know what had gotten her so upset, or so he had heard.

"Right," she looked at Sark, "I found out why the Covenant kept Will for a long time." She said, wanting to start out with that.

"Why?" Sark asked, he didn't think this was what had gotten her so upset.

"It was Project Christmas," Simon's face looked blank, but Sark's got darker, as if he was angered at the sound of it. "He was in it."

Now Sark just looked confused. "But, we had the list of people, he was never on that list."

"I know, but it turns out there was another part of it. Another version, only given to ten kids. He was one of the two out of ten kids who lived through it. It can only be triggered through a series of events, and no one knew what the events are."

Sark nodded, Will must have had something happen to him, and they realized that he was one of the kids. "You said there were two kids that survived, who was the other one?" Sark asked, looking at Sydney who wouldn't meet his eyes.

"You," she said softly.

Sark's eyes widened in shock. "Me? But how? I lived with my mother; she wouldn't have put me through that." He didn't believe that he would have gone through it.

"It wasn't your mother, it was your father. I talked to Irina, she said that you moved to England after you're seventh birthday." Sark nodded, this was all true. "It was before then, that's why she took you away. She was angry at your father for doing it, and was trying to keep you away from the life."

She still wouldn't meet his eyes, even though he was staring at her like he had never before seen her in his life. "Ho-how do you know?" He managed to choke out.

"The leader of the Covenant," she wrung her fingers, "and my mother." Like she had said before.

Simon still had no idea what Project Christmas was, so he stood, "I think I'm going to get a drink," he said, noticing how upset this was making both of them. And he didn't think that he wanted to be here. He walked out of the room, leaving Sark staring at Sydney.

He could now see why she had been upset. He had never liked the idea of Project Christmas, even though he had a cold heart he didn't think it was right to brainwash children, deciding their futures for them. He knew Sydney was one of these children, and at least she had been told. And he knew that she felt the same. She had felt bad because he didn't know about it, at least she had been told. "Well, great to know that my father cared a little," he said bitterly, causing Sydney to finally look at him.

She had grown up with an absent father. But he had grown up without one, even when they were in Russia with his father, he never saw him more then a handful of times.

They didn't say anything for a while, just looked at each other. After a while, Sydney sniffed and looked at her watch, "I should go," she said and stood. Sark stood with her, he didn't want her to go, but he knew that she had to.

Looking up at him she knew this was going to be a night without bickering, but she didn't mind it so much. Sark looked back down at her; he could tell she was thinking the same thing he was. Bu they couldn't go there, they were partners and it would mess things up, and they couldn't afford that right now.

Simon decided to walk in right then, he had been outside whoring himself out to the random girls at the bar. When she saw him come in, Sydney looked away from Sark's gave. "I was leaving," she mumbled, and Sark nodded.

Stepping away from him she walked around the table and over to the curtain, stopping right after Simon she turned, "I want to bring down the Covenant, soon." She said, and walked out, leaving both men staring at a red curtain.

Tears were gathering in her eyes as Sydney made her way out of the club, twisting her way around the people, she rushed out, not wanting to be followed by anyone. Once she made it outside she stopped to breathe before she would go one. These next few months were going to be interesting.


	12. Chapter Twelve

_A/N: Yep... don't awn a thing. If you don't like the chapter, then whatever, I just kinda wrote it. But I hope you do like it. R/R! Please! _

And yes, the next few months were very interesting. Working separately, and on occasions together, Sydney and Sark came up with all the information that they needed to take down the Covenant. The CIA had put Sydney back into the middle of things, and she often found herself having to meet up with Sark on several occasions. So eventually get what she wanted. Mostly it was information that could be easily copied, but it still didn't make it any less frustrating.

Things hadn't gotten any better with Lauren, they still hated each other, even though neither of them acted on it, Sydney had the feeling that they would find themselves having an alteration again before things were done. Lauren had been working with Robert Lindsay, her employer very closely, and as it seemed, he had it out for her. Always hovering over her shoulder, waiting for her to slip up. But she wouldn't, she wouldn't give him the glorification of slipping up.

She would prove him wrong and she would love every minute of it. Because the funniest thing was that he was right, she was working for someone else: herself.

But they didn't need to know that. The sad part was the every day she got closer to achieving her goal the worse she felt about what she was going to do. She was going to back out of her friend's lives, again, and that hurt her. All because she needed some kind of closure. But it had to be done, she hoped that her friends would forgive her for what she was doing, or what she had done in the past, and they would get over it.

The CIA hadn't really found anything of importance happening. It was odd, something was usually happening, but not right now. Many people were nervous; it was too much like a foreboding to something awful that was going to happen. The calm before the storm, or so they say. There really hadn't been anything going on, nothing of importance anyway, nothing big was stolen, no one of importance got out of jail. No one turned up alive that was supposed to be dead.

Actually, it was quiet boring. Everyone was restless, even Marshall, without any missions he had really nothing to make. And since he had made everything that came to his mind last week, there was nothing to do.

Everyone expected something big to happen; hell they knew it would eventually. Everyone knew it would be anticlimactic if nothing big happened. And then they would all feel silly for thinking something was going to happen.

It had been two and a half months since she had met Sark and Simon in the club; therefore it had been the last time she had really talked about anything in depth with either of them. She had all but forced the memories into the back of her mind. She refused to think about how things would have been different if her father hadn't subjected her to Project Christmas.

But currently, Sydney had nothing to do. When she had called Sark last night to see how far along they were with their plan, he had told her that he needed to tie up a few ends, and then they would be good to go, within the next two weeks. He had also told her to clam down; she would need to have full strength to pull this off successfully.

Currently, she, Eric, Marshall and Vaughn we all playing cards in Eric's office. She and Vaughn had begun to speak on civilized terms now, and could even be caught having a conversation now and again. Things hadn't gotten any better for him with the Lauren situation. He had now fully moved into Eric's apartment and was paying rent. Which meant he wasn't living on the couch anymore, he had his own room.

Eric said something that made Sydney giggle, and Michael looked at them sadly, even though he knew he would never get her back he missed making her laugh like that.

She looked down at the cards she had in her hands and looked back at Eric, who was now saying something else quietly to her. Vaughn couldn't tell what he was saying, but he knew it made her smile. Marshall said nothing; he was lost in his own world, as if trying to figure out this game. They were playing Go Fish, because they had run out of anything else to play.

"Have any fives?" Marshall asked Sydney hopefully, the Master of everything Technological couldn't figure out this game.

"Nope," she said, giggling, she thought it was funny. So did Mike and Eric. "Go fish!"

"Damnit," he said as he drew a card.

Sydney shook her head as she looked down at her cards again. She had a Queen and a King. Looking to Marshall she smiled, "Got any queens?" She asked sweetly, knowing he was getting frustrated.

"How did you know?" He said as he handed her the queen and she happily took it and put it down in her large pile of doubles. Much larger than anyone else's, what could she say, she kicked ass at Go Fish.

Looking at each of the three in turn her gaze rested on Michael, "Got an kings?" She asked him, trying to keep her face calm; if she got this card she would win the game.

Michael looked down at his hand, "Yep." He said reluctantly, and held up the king for her. Which she snatched out of his hand, grinning like anything.

She put the cards down on her pile and she smiled, folding her hands in her lap. "I win!" She said excitedly.

Eric rolled his eyes at her, "Well, someone's modest," he said, laughing and she playfully hit him in the stomach. "Nah, I get it. I mean, if this was the first game out of, what has it been, like, twenty card games, I would be happy, too." He grinned as she stared at him in mock outrage.

Marshall was laughing at the two of them, as was Michael. It was true, she was never any good at the games they played, it could possibly have been because they were guys, and guys always seemed more into cards, and it was there thing. Having poker parties and stuff, and as she was a girl, not a girly girl, but a girl all the same, she shopped with her friends.

Or, she used to, she really didn't have any girlfriends anymore. Hell, she really never had any, other than Francie, to start out with. She found it easier to get along with guys. But that was all in the past, she just now didn't think about her friends, or lack there of.

"Hey, leave me alone, y'all are just upset because I beat you," she smirked at all of them. And they all looked at each other and nodded. And then all four of them burst out laughing it was rather funny.

The door was open so their laughter spread around through the Rotunda, it was rather humorous, they were becoming well known for their card games, and people were actually beginning to think they had started this exclusive club. Since they never played with anyone but themselves. How amusing was it that half of the people in the office were so bored that they wanted to be in on an 'exclusive' card game.

They were all laughing when Sydney felt a vibration in her pocket, which made her jump. She blushed, when all the guys looked at her funny. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID, it was Sark.

"I'll be right back," she said as she stood and walked out of Eric's office and into her own. "Yeah?" She said as she flipped up the phone to answer.

"_Well, hello to you, too."_ The British man said, as if her were hurt.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she drawled out. "Would you like me to be another brainless bimbo." She smirked, even though he couldn't see her, she knew he hated those kinds of girls. "Oh, Sark, I missed you so much!" She squealed as if to make her point.

_"Uh, stop it, now."_ Nope, he didn't like them one bit. _"Anyway, I wanted to give you an update. We are ready to go."_ He told her simply.

She didn't quite know what to say. They had worked fast. Rather, he had worked fast, she felt as if she hadn't done much of anything. And it had only been last night when he told her it might take up to two weeks.

"_Sydney?"_ He asked, after he didn't get an answer for a minute.

"What? Oh, sorry," she remembered who she was talking to. "That's great. Just tell me when you want to do this. I'm pretty much open," she shouldn't be taking this lightly. But it was all she could do from screaming with joy.

"There is something going on tomorrow, at the main building, at eight. It would be ideal to do it then."

"Alright, then tomorrow it is. I'll be there at five." She said, and didn't hang up on him like she usually would. Instead she sat there, thinking about what this would mean. They were going to take down the group who caused her so much personal torment over the past three years.

And they were going down. _"Sydney, we need to talk about what will happen after this."_ Sark said on the other end of the line, quietly. She knew it too; they needed to talk about what would happen to their partnership. They needed to decide whether they would stay partners, or if something else was going to happen.

"We will," she promised him after another moment. "I'll see you tomorrow, Julian." She had recently started calling him Julian, but only when they were together, alone. It just seemed more comfortable to her now. And she knew she was the only one who would be able to get away with it.

"_I'll be seeing you, love."_ He told her and hung up the phone. She flipped down the phone and held it to her chest.

Now all she had to do was get a reason to be out of the country, and something that would supposedly keep her far away from London.

* * *

Sark hung up the phone and set it down on his desk. "That was fun," he muttered to himself as he left the library and headed towards his room. He had always liked pleasing Sydney. Not that before five months ago he really had ever done that. But he was making up for lost time. He did admit that he liked it better when they weren't on opposite ends of the spectrum. He had always gone home hurt when they ran into each other. And it hadn't been exactly fun, but he had liked running into her. There were few times when he met his match, intelligence and strength wise, and he met both of those in her, sometimes she exceeded his. He couldn't help wonder what would have happened if she had been trained under Irina.

Things would certainly be different, had she been, that's for sure.

But right now, all he could really focus on what they were going to do tomorrow. He had men set up in all of the Covenant cells, and they were ready to raid said cells when either he or Sydney gave the word. Which they most certainly would, tomorrow evening they, together, would take down the Covenant. A group that had the potential to become stronger than the Alliance had been in its prime.

From his vantage point he could see a few options they could take. She could either break off their partnership, or he could, she could remain with the CIA and he could go off on his own. Or they could keep their partnership as it was, and have her working through the CIA, as a double agent. Or, and he liked this the best, she could leave the CIA and they could actually work together, building the empire that Irina had promised would be his one day.

Sark entered his room and shut the door tightly behind him, the lights were off, as he'd left them, but something seemed off. It didn't have the same air that it did before; it was sweet, like cinnamon and roses. He knew that scent. "Irina," he said as he watched as she turned on the light by the chair she was sitting in.

"Julian," she said, and gave him a small attempt at a smile. "I haven't seen you in a while." She said calmly, as if it had just been last week. No, it had been three years, and he had almost begun to think she was dead. But she couldn't be dead, no, she was sitting right in front of him.

This woman had been like a mother to him. And yet, she had left him when he was in custody. She had left him waste away, being drained for information until nothing was a secret anymore. And she, the woman who had basically raised him, had left him to that.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her coldly, crossing the room to hang up his jacket. He needed sleep, it was late, and he really needed sleep.

"I just came to see how you were." She replied softly, her eyes never leaving him.

"How'd you get in?" He thought this place would be more secure as it had been so far.

"Mark let me in, sweet man, that Mark is." She said, smiling. Apparently she had been there before. Sark shrugged and walked around the room, trying not to look at her.

"I just came to say good luck," this made him stop walking around. She didn't usually do this; she just let people go about their ways, usually watching as people rose and fell, and all the while, she herself, manipulated people to get her ways. "On what you're planning on doing. Sydney didn't tell me," she said, when she saw the look on his face. "In case you were wondering, I found out another way." She held up her hand when he was about to say something. "No, wait. I know you want to do this, and I know this is the best time to do it. I'm not stopping you; I'm actually giving you my full admiration. And help if you'd like, but I want you to think of something before you do. What are you going to do afterwards? What happens to Sydney and you after all this is done." She sighed, and he sat down on the bed, his hands holding his head. It sounded almost as if she had read his mind. "Just think about it," she told him.

Standing up, she walked over to him and planted a kiss on his head. "You were always like a son to me," she told him before walking out of his room, leaving a very confused Sark staring after her.

She was completely right, he had no idea what would happen to them. And they did need to talk about it before it happened. Sighing, he stood, and in just his pants and an undershirt he padded out into the hallway and went to go get his phone.

Walking into the library he sighed as he grabbed the phone with one hand and dialed the number. Holding it up he waited for Sydney to answer the phone as he rubbed his eyes and sighed.

"_Hello?"_ She answered, she sounded like she was out of breath.

"Syd, it's me."

_"Oh, hello, Julian."_

"I think you should come back now." He said, rather quickly.

"_What?"_ Seemingly his words have caught her off guard.

"I. Think. You. Should. Get. On. A. Plane. And. Fly. To. London. Right. Now." He drew it out for her, sarcastically.

"_Why?"_ He knew she would come, if he really wanted her to, no matter what the reason was.

"Because, we need to talk." He told her.

"_You make it sound like we are going to break up." _She giggled then went on, _"But alright, I'm coming."_

"Thank you," he closed his eyes, and headed back to his room.

_"Welcome, just promise not to break my heart."_ She said in a witty voice before hanging up.

"Oh, I'll try." He murmured to himself as he shut the door to his room once again. Time for sleep, he threw the cell phone onto the desk and turned off the light Irina had left on. Sydney would be there in a few hours and they would get this all worked out. But right now, he needed to rest, which was what he planned on doing.

Slipping out of his pants he slid under the covers clad in black silk boxers. He was falling asleep as soon as he lay down. And he only had one thing on his mind: Sydney.

* * *

Later that day, in London

By the time she had gotten the second phone call, she had already been at her house and was packing a small bag to go to London. The phone call from Sark had confused her, and she wasn't sure why they needed to talk now. But that was okay; she had been planning on leaving immediately. To go spend time by herself, think and the likes. But now she had to go see Sark. But she still had time to spend by herself, thinking that whatever they needed to talk about wasn't going to take that long. She got there early; it was around, eight in the morning, as she had gotten called last night.

She told her dad she was meeting a contact in Fiji, someone who knew something about where she had been; there were still no leads into her past as far as the CIA was concerned. She hadn't called anyone in London to tell someone to pick her up at the airport, she could walk. Sure there was a greater challenge of someone seeing her, but she would take it, it wasn't that far from the airport to her house. She didn't want to make anyone go through the trouble.

She had gone a little while, walking slowly so she could watch the people rushing around her. She longed, deep in her heart, that she could be one of them. She passed the park that was close to her house and stopped. She looked at all the couples and all the kids running around, and was suddenly jealous. She wanted someone to love, she had thought she had had it with Vaughn, but it wasn't true. Same thing with Noah and Danny, who both left her, by choice and by death. And all was her fault, which was why she feared going after the thing she ultimately wanted most in her life, love.

She hadn't noticed she had been standing there a while until she felt someone come stand next to her. Glancing over she saw it was Sark, reassuring herself that it wasn't someone she didn't want to talk to, she looked back at the playing children.

"How long have you been out here?" She asked him.

"Ten minutes maybe, I came outside to get out of the house and here you were." He told her softly, guessing that she didn't know how long she had been here.

"Oh," she nodded, finally tearing her gaze off of the kids and looking up at him. "I'm here," she said, her voice changing, "you sounded upset." She frowned.

He shrugged, and leaned down to rest his elbows on the railing. "I'm alright," he lied, well not really. He was all right; he just was a bit worried.

And of course, she knew this, "Don't lie to me," she told him; resting her one elbow on the rail so she was facing him. "Tell me what's wrong." She demanded of him.

He sighed, "What's going to happen. After this is all over?" He asked her, which surprised her. It wasn't like him to worry about what was going to happen to their partnership.

She couldn't give him an answer, "I want to keep working with you," she said, honestly, looking away from him.

"As I do you," he had had fun these past few months. "So what are we going to do? You can't exactly just up and leave the CIA, can you?"

She thought about this, "Not right now," she just needed time. "So, do we keep working together from different sides of the world, on different sides?"

Sark didn't answer her for a minute, "I guess." He answered, not liking that plan at all.

She stared at the children for a bit longer, before suddenly saying, "We could leave," that was all she said, no elaboration.

"What?" He asked, looking at her with a startled expression.

"I'm serious, we could leave the business. Leave it with Simon, or someone," her voice died off.

"You're serious?" He asked disbelieving her. Sure, he had thought of it sometimes, leaving the world they lived in. But it seemed like a forbidden life. One that he couldn't have, and she had always thought the same.

She frowned, then shook her head, "No, I guess I don't," she said sadly, tearing her eyes away from the frolicking children, but not before Sark saw a tear run down her face. When she saw him looking at her she quickly wiped it away and smiled.

"So that's it? We are going to continue this until I can leave from the CIA." She looked at him hopefully; she obviously wanted to be done with this conversation. He nodded slowly and she smiled again.

Looking around she frowned again, "Let's go back," she said softly, and walked around him, heading towards her home. Turning on his heel Sark caught up to her and walked along side her. It was very comfortable, like two of the most dangerous people just normally took walks around the streets of London.

They walked in silence, and when they got to the house he held open the door for her. It was very sweet; after all, he was a gentleman.

They didn't see anyone at first, as no one really paid attention to the front door, as it was hardly ever used, so people went looking for different doors first to see who had come in.

They walked silently into the kitchen where they had heard voices and they found Simon and Mark playing cards, and it looked like Mark was winning. Sydney smiled, she loved it here, and she always would.

Mark looked up when he heard them walk in, "Miss Sydney, I didn't know you were coming," he told her, trying to find out if he had been told she was coming.

Sydney smiled and walked over to sit next to him at the table, "No, I didn't tell anyone I was." She smiled at Simon who was frowning at his cards.

"I hate this game," he muttered, as Sark sat next to him at the table.

"What game?" Sark inquired, looking amused.

"Go fish," Mark said, laughing at Simon. Sydney had taught him well over the years.

Sydney laughed as Simon glared at her, "I blame you," he shook his finger at her, which caused her to laugh harder.

"I'm sorry," she grinned at Simon and blew him a kiss. "I needed someone to play with, and Mark was here." She said, trying to clam down her laughing.

Sark just sat there, he didn't see how people could enjoy that game. "I'm going to go take a shower." He said, standing and walking out of the room. They all stared after him and then looked at each other and shrugged.

Sydney had sat there, watching Simon fail miserably at the game for a while then faked a yawn and ventured upstairs. She heard the water running as she passed Sark's room, so she went inside.

Looking around she sat on the leather chair and picked up the book that was on the table. Glancing over at her shoulder at the clock she saw it was a little after three. Sighing she shook her head and looked at the book in her hands._ Catcher in the Rye_. Good book, it was one of her favorites. She opened it to a random page, she had read it so many times she almost knew it by heart, and begun to read.

Fifteen minutes later the water cut off and she could hear the shower door siding open. A moment after that Sark walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Sydney looked up at him, and had to admit, he looked good without a shirt on, but all right.

He stopped when he saw her curled up on the chair in his room. He was of course, only in a towel and he wondered what she was doing there. "Syd?"

"Sorry," she mumbled, standing, rather embarrassed she had even gone into his room, "You just left quickly and I wanted to see if everything was okay." She shook her head and tried not to look at him. "I'll just go," she whispered before going to the door.

But her could walk faster then she could, and was closer to the door. He grabbed her arm and stopped her from leaving. "It's alright," he said softly right behind her. She nodded and slowly turned to face him.

"What are we doing?" She asked him softly, and he couldn't tell if she meant right now or what they were going to do later. But he couldn't answer her either one. He was loosing himself in her eyes, and he feared he would drown forever if someone wouldn't stop him.

She looked up at him, seeing something she couldn't explain in his eyes. And before either of them realized it, their lips met in a passionate kiss. She pressed herself against him and wrapped her arms around his neck, and together the walked back to the bed and fell on top of it. Never letting go of each other, the towel was discarded onto the floor, and he begun to work on stripping off her clothing. She was in her underwear when he stopped and forced her to look at him. "Are you sure?" He asked softly, and she nodded, ever the gentleman. Once he saw her nod he kissed her passionately again and rolled over so he was on top of her.

He flipped the covers over them and slid her out of the rest of her clothing. And they were both overcome with the greatest sense of happiness they had felt in a long time.

* * *

A while later Sydney lay in the crook of Sark's arm. It felt right, like they were supposed to be together, and it took those years of fighting to realize it. Just as well they realized it now rather then back then, it was easier now.

Sark lay with his eyes closed and his lips pressed against Sydney's hair. His arm tightened around her shoulders as she shifted her position, her body now pressed up against his, her head on his chest. She ran her fingers up and down his chest as he smiled down at her. "That was nice," he murmured lazily against her hair.

"Mmmhmm," she agreed, her fingers stopping their movement. Looking up at him she smiled.

He smirked back at her and closed his eyes. They both wished they could stay there forever, but they couldn't. With a regretful sigh Sydney looked over at the clock to find that it was six thirty. Yep, they had been in that bed for three hours, felt good, didn't it?

"I should go get ready," she said sadly, she needed to shower, and she had a feeling that if he came with her she wouldn't get much progress. And he seemed to know this because he nodded, agreeing. Sighing she pushed herself out of the bed and grabbed a shirt that lay on the chair next to the bed. It was his, and she slipped it on, it was very comfortable.

Slipping on her pants she looked back at him, as he was still lying in the bed, and smiled at him. "We should do that again," she grinned before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Once she was in her room she hugged his shirt to her chest and threw everything else she had on her bed. "That was interesting," she said, she wondered how this would change their relationship, if it would. But they really didn't have a relationship other than partners. Maybe they would have one now. Who knows?

But it was now time for her to get ready. She wouldn't get time to herself, or that much time, but she didn't care, that was better then spending time by herself. Walking into her bathroom, Sydney turned on the shower and let her had run under the cold water, waiting for it to get hot. Yep, she took her showers hot, hotter than most people, but she liked it that way.

Slipping out of the clothes she had on, she left them in a pile on the floor and stepped into the scolding water. She liked to think while she was in the shower, and today was no different. She thought of everything that had just gone on, and knew that it was more then just sex. There had been something else there, and she couldn't identify it.

Shaking the soap out of her eyes she ran her face under the water. Tonight was going to be fun.

* * *

Vaughn walked briskly towards the building he was told to go to. He had received a call earlier that day, telling him something was going to happen. So he had followed the lead and wound up in London.

Looking at his watch he saw that it was five minutes to eight, five minutes before something big was supposed to happen. But nothing big ever happened on time, so he thought he had at least ten minutes before he would need to do anything.

Michael stuck his hand into his pocket where his gun was currently resting; he thought he would need it, so he had hurriedly stuffed it into his pocket before leaving LA. He had talked to Dixon before leaving, and they both decided it would be all right for him to go in by himself. He hardly ever did this, he was usually with Sydney, but since she was in Fiji, he went alone.

She sat down on a bench that overlooked the main lobby of a building. He reread the message he had gotten in his mind, all it said was that something big was happening. With the covenant, and that it would be good for the CIA to be there. He had no clue who the note was from, but apparently it was important.

Sighing he checked his watch again, it was now five after eight. _Yep, nothing ever starts on time,_ Vaughn thought to himself as he looked disdainfully down onto the lobby floor again.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw three figures enter the building. Their face were hidden, because he wasn't sitting at the right angle, but he could tell the one in the middle was a woman. The two men on her sides were both tall and they were all dressed in black. _Here we go,_ Michael thought, standing and reaching into his pocket. Fingering the gun in his hand he walked to the edge and watched as the three split up, the woman walking forward and the two men going under the balcony.

The woman stood in the middle of the lobby, and Michael had his gun ready at his side. She turned to look at the man who had gone to their right, she nodded and Michael heard a loud noise coming from another floor. The power flickered out, and the woman was gone. Michael pulled out his own gun as he heard others being shot.

Michael ran down the stairs and looked around, only one man remained, and the doors were swinging on the right side of the lobby. The two people who had gone down those doors had to be the leaders, so Michael followed them, running through the doors. They weren't that hard to find, all he had to do was follow the trail of gunshots and dead bodies.

He entered another room, and he was suddenly in a place that reminded him of SD-6, _this must be the Covenant's main building_, he thought, finally understanding. This was all to familiar, someone was taking down the Covenant, by themselves. The desks looked untouched, as if no one had been in there, which was probably a good thing. Suddenly he heard a gun shot, coming from an office.

Running slowly he made his way towards the room he had heard the gun shot come from. All he could see was the woman standing there with her gun in her hand, pointed at someone.

He couldn't see the other man, but he knew he was there, somewhere. He cautiously stepped into the room but stepped on a piece of glass that crunched loudly under his foot.

The woman didn't turn to see who it was, but the man stepped up out of the corner to see whom it was, and had his gun ready. It was Sark, Michael was surprised, Sark looked at him strangely for a moment then reached out and grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her through a second door, and Michael quickly followed them. Once they had reached the main floor they met up with the third man and were running out of the building.

Michael reached the lobby as they were almost towards the door, firing his gun he tried to aim it at Sark, and not the woman, but it was the woman who grabbed her arm and almost fell. She stopped, and Michael stopped, letting his gun drop down to his side. Sark and the other man continued out of the building, not noticing that she had been hit.

Slowly, after a minute of no one moving, the woman turned to face Michael, and he got the shock of his life. She stood there with her hand holding her arm, and her hair wild around her face under the black beanie she wore on her head. Even from across the room he could see the pain in her eyes. It was Sydney, she was supposed to be in Fiji, and suddenly he understood. All those times she had gone away, she had been planning this. She had faked her way back into the CIA, by pretending to loose her memories, and she had wanted to be found, and that's why they were able to. She had probably even arranged Sark to get out of jail. But he couldn't understand why.

Suddenly nothing else mattered, he had shot her, and she was in pain. Before he could even move she had fallen on her knees, and had fallen into the arms of Sark. He hadn't noticed Sark come back in, but he watched now as Sark looked on with worried eyes as he held a bleeding Sydney in his arms.

Vaughn rushed over to them. Sark had gotten Sydney to stand up, but she needed help. He was about to open his mouth when Sark realized he was there. "You?" He asked shakily, not believing he had shot him.

Michael nodded, and then looked at Sydney. She stared back at him, not making a sound, he could see the darkness of her arm and she had lost a lot of blood. Sark had taken his hand off her back, and before either of them could react Sydney dropped, unconscious to the floor.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_A/N: So I typed this chapter and the last in one day. And they are kidna long, so I apoligize. But hope you like them. Now, the episode where Sydney is taken into custody by the NSC.. that is in here, but I didn't remember what exactly happened, so I tweaked it to fit the story. So yeah. Hope you like it! R/R please! _

Sydney woke with a start, she didn't know where she was and was suddenly scared. She tried to push herself out of the bed she was in but when she put pressure on her left arm she was overcome with a sense of excruciating pain. Looking down at her arm she saw a think white bandage wrapped around her arm.

Looking around the room she found that she was in her own room, in her London room. But she had no clue how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was falling into Sark's arms, and being shot. Michael, she had seen Michael. She didn't know, but she was beginning to get a little dizzy.

Laying back into her bed she raised her good arm over her forehead, and breathed shakily. She was so confused; looking around she realized that she didn't even know how long ago that had been.

Closing her eyes tightly she shook her head. No, Michael couldn't have been there, she tried to tell herself, not really being successful. She had to find out. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed she tried to stand. Finding it incredibly hard to, she had been laying down for a long time, her body could tell. She sat down quickly and then after a few minutes she stood back up. She was in sweat pants and a tank top. She didn't care what she looked like.

Walking out of her room, she didn't bother closing her door but headed downstairs. From the looks of it, it was late afternoon, early evening. Making her way down the stairs she heard voices coming from the living room. Wandering towards the living room she held her hand on the wall so not to fall. She was very dizzy suddenly and didn't need to faint in the hallway.

The door to the living room was open and she stopped when she saw who was inside.

Sark and Simon sat on one sofa, and Michael Vaughn sat on the other facing them. None of the men noticed she was there, so they continued talking.

"Why were you there?" Simon said, and sounded rather angry.

"I told you already, someone tipped me off that something was happening. Honestly, I don't know why I'm telling you this." Michael said sounding deeply annoyed.

"You are telling us this because you are currently a guest in the house of a woman you shot, Mr. Vaughn," Sark said coldly. "And may I remind you that we are only letting you stay until she wakes up."

Sydney stood in the doorway quietly, watching the interaction between the three. Slipping into the room she went unnoticed at first, her spy skills kicking in. It wasn't until she was standing right next to the sofas did the even look away from each other.

Sark, Simon and Michael all stood when they saw her in the room. "Sydney," Sark said concern not hidden in his voice as he moved to take her by the elbow and help her sit down. Once she was seated, the men sat back down, each of them looking at her with a concerned look.

Michael looked away from Sydney when she met his gaze, and wrung his hands nervously in his lap. "I," he begun, but stopped. "I didn't know it was you," he said in a small voice. As if he was deeply sad for shooting her.

"No, you didn't know it was me," she replied in a voice that showed no emotion. She couldn't afford to show emotion, not right now. "I heard why you were there." She told him, looking straight at him.

"Yeah, I don't know who sent it." He was talking about the note, and was a bit relived to see that she shrugged in response.

She looked at Sark and Simon who were looking at each other with frowns. "What?" She asked them quietly, knowing they had something on their mind.

"It's just that," Simon started, "Agent Vaughn here is CIA. And he now knows the truth about you, about us," Simon told her nervously.

Sydney winced in pain as she used her bad arm to shift her position. Luckily it went unnoticed by everyone. Looking intently at Vaughn she pleaded to him with her eyes.

"I'm not going to tell them," he said suddenly. "Simon and Sark told me everything, Sydney, I swear I won't tell. If it were me, I would probably have done the same thing." That was a lie and they all knew it, but Sydney believed that he was sincere in not telling the CIA what had happened.

"Fine. We don't do anything," Sydney told them, still looking at Michael. "But if you say anything, you will regret it," she told him icily, finally letting her emotion show. Michael was reminded of her mother, she was becoming her mother's daughter, and they all knew it.

"I know," he said softly. "All the CIA needs to know that the Covenant is no longer a threat." He looked at Sark and Simon, who were both nodding, approvingly, but looking concerned. As if they didn't fully believe that Michael wouldn't tell his employers.

Sydney put her hand on her forehead, "How many days?" She asked quietly.

"Two," Sark answered, not looking at her, but staring at the floor.

"I'll need to go back tomorrow," she said. Her tone becoming emotionless again. This caused Sark to look up at her.

"But you can't go back, you won't be better," he let his voice die down; Simon had left the room when she said that. Michael looked at Sark with an odd look, it had sounded like he was worried, and he cared for her.

_Maybe he does,_ he thought.

"I have to, and you know it," she told him softly, meeting his eyes. They stared at each other for a moment before nodding. She looked back at Vaughn who had been watching the interaction between them. "You can stay here tonight, and then we can go back tomorrow." She told him, liking that plan. "I'll think of a reason I was in London before then." She nodded, looking at him, waiting for him to agree.

"Alright," he said slowly. He didn't really like the idea of staying in a house with murders and a CIA spy who had a whole different life she had hidden so well.

Simon walked back in with Mark in his tow. "Miss Sydney!" He exclaimed, rushing over and giving her a hug. Michael was surprised, he had never seen this man, and was wondering why she had allowed him to hug her.

"Mark," she said returning the hug.

Sark laughed, something else that surprised Michael. "Mark has been worried sick about you, Syd, hardly slept a bit." He said with a small smile as Mark stood back up.

"Can I get you anything? Anything at all?" He asked, sounding genuinely happy that she was all right.

"No thank you, Mark," she said, looking up at him, "I'm fine. I think I might go back to bed." She stood and watched as Michael and Sark stood with her as well.

"I'll help you," Sark offered her his arm, which she gratefully took.

She smiled at all them and gave Mark a kiss on the cheek. Then she looked at Michael, "If you don't have a room already, Mark will give you one." She told him with a smile and then she and Sark walked out of the room.

Upstairs back in her room Sydney slipped quietly back under her covers. She smiled at Sark who sat on the edge of her bed. "We were worried," he said quietly.

"I'm okay," she smiled weakly at him. She was feeling weak, and dizzy again. "I always am."

"I know, but I was still worried. You've gotten shot to many times recently," he told her frowning. He kissed her on the forehead and stood, smiling down at her as he pulled her covers up around her.

Smiling back she sighed, "Thank you," she told him. "For everything," she meant for not killing Vaughn and keeping her safe.

"I would do anything for you and you know it," he told her honestly, before leaning down to plant a lingering kiss on her lips.

She smiled against his lips, "I know," she said smugly, before kissing him again and snuggling down into her bed.

"Call if you need me, I'll check on you later," he promised as he left the room.

Rubbing the back of his neck Sark walked back to the living room. He hadn't slept more than two hours in a row for two days. And he was beginning to look worse for the wear. Michael was still sitting on the couch and Simon was sitting across from him. Mark had returned to the kitchen and was telling the cook to start on dinner, as it was around six, and none of them had eaten anything today. They would make Sydney eat when she woke up.

Michael looked up when Sark walked into the room and gave him an odd look, "what?" Sark barked as he flopped down into the leather chair.

"Do you love her?" He asked suddenly, Sark, who was not expecting that question, shot his head up.

"What?" He asked incredulous.

"Do you love her?" he repeated, staring at him.

Sark couldn't answer right away. Truth be told he wasn't in love with her, but he knew he was falling in love with her, he didn't know. "I don't know," he said in a quiet voice.

Vaughn stared at him before looking away. He didn't say anything, just looked around the room. "How long has she had this place?" He asked, not knowing with man to ask.

Simon was the one to answer, "Almost two years," he said, first thing he had said in a while, "This is her second favorite home." He told them, nodding, standing and going to look out the window. It was gray and raining, thunder rolling in the distance. The weather reflected all of their moods. Michael understood that Simon had been with Sydney for two years, after having met her as Julia Thorne, and when she left the Covenant he had stayed with her.

"She had more then one homes?" He asked, wanting to fully understand the woman she had become.

"Several, all over the world, but you can't tell her you know. Or anyone else, for that matter. The apartment in Florence was her favorite, the one you took her from." He said bitterly, he was still angry that he had had to give up that apartment. It was his favorite, and he stayed there when she was elsewhere. But he understood they couldn't go back there.

Sark listened in as well, he didn't fully understand the past two years of Sydney's life, and Simon was the greatest link to those other than Sydney herself. Or at least, the greatest one still living.

"Next question?" Simon asked, he liked answering questions, he didn't know why, maybe it was because he wasn't being tortured for answers, or he wouldn't go to jail for them.

"Why did she kill Allison?" Michael asked, even though he had a feeling he already knew.

"Easy, because she stole her best friend away from her. Allison stole the one thing that had been constant in her life. Other than Will," Simon said from his understanding of the situation, neither Simon nor Sark knew if Michael knew that Will Tippin was dead, so they didn't bring it up.

"Who was the man that she killed while taking down the Covenant? And why did she want to take down the Covenant?" Finally the questions that he wanted to ask had come out. He had actually wanted to ask Sydney, but he had waited long enough, he needed to know the answers now.

"Paul Jamison," Simon told them, turning to lean against the window. "He was the leader of the Covenant, and was her superior while she was there." Simon paused and crossed his arms over his chest. "She wanted to take down the Covenant because she wanted to get them back for basically ruining her life. And because she didn't want anything bad to happen to those from her past because she wouldn't kill Sark."

Simon had spoken in depth with Sydney about these two subjects. She had had to, they had become good friends, as well as allies.

"So she took down the entire organization that gave us, and her, hell for three years, so they wouldn't hurt anyone and she didn't have to kill someone she once hated?" Michael asked, trying to make sense of all this. It was a lot to take in, especially her not wanting to kill Sark.

"Mostly by herself, too." Sark spoke up. "All I had to do was tie up the loose ends." He said truthfully, "And get everything ready to go," he shrugged, leaning back into the chair. Taking silent pride in the look upon Michael's face when he heard about Sydney wanting to keep him alive.

"I see," Michael said, slowly nodding, it wasn't making that much sense, but it was easier to take as it sunk into his brain.

Before any of them could say anything, Mark walked into the room. "Dinner's ready," he said from the doorway.

The three men, all hungry, stood silently and followed Mark into the dining room. They sat at the table and looked at each other. Before they started eating, they made a silent truce with the CIA agent who was keeping their secrets.

* * *

The next day Sydney found herself on a plane with Vaughn. Sark had spent the night in her bed at her request, which she was grateful for. As she had woken up when he came in and checked on her before he went to bed himself.

She was glad the three men weren't at each other's throats before they had left, figuring that it was because of her that they had formed this quasi-truce.

Once they had said their good-byes Sydney and Vaughn had taken a cab to the airport, where they had their own private plane waiting for them, courtesy of the CIA.

They had been on the plane for an hour before either one of them said anything to each other.

Sydney had been reading a novel as she sat cross-legged in the plane seat. She had a jacket over her arm, because she wasn't planning on telling the CIA that she had been shot. Vaughn had been watching her off and on for the past twenty minutes. Finally he gave up trying to read the papers in front of him and stood to move into the seat across from her.

When he sat down she looked from her book, "Why didn't you tell me?" Vaughn was trying to keep the hurt from being evident in his voice.

Sighing she marked her page with the cover and set her hands in her lap. "I couldn't tell you," she started.

"Bullshit," he interrupted her, "You could always tell me everything, even before everything," he paused and swallowed, "happened. And now suddenly you are lying to me left and right."

She stared at him, calm and understanding, just sitting as he let out his anger. "You couldn't know, you had responsibilities elsewhere. Not to mention the fact that I know you couldn't have lied to your country the way I did," she said bluntly.

Staring at her, he slowly realized that she was right. "You mean Lauren?" He asked her, wanting the meaning of responsibilities.

"Yes, she was investigating me, and I thought that if you couldn't have me," she paused, "You would go back to her. And if I told you anything then you would tell her as a way to get back at me." There she had said it, and Vaughn was stunned.

"I wouldn't have," he said quietly, after a few minutes had passed of them just staring at each other.

"I know that now," she told him honestly. "But I couldn't have taken that chance, without knowing whether or not it would have blown up in my face." She looked down; it was awkward, them having this conversation.

"Why Sark?" Michael asked her, not getting why she would want to work with him.

"When you were sick, a few years ago, I needed to antidote," Michael nodded he knew all of this, "I had had to work with Sark to get it." Michael nodded again; he knew that too, he just didn't know where this was going. "And as much as I didn't want to admit it, we worked well together." Michael didn't do anything, just stared out the dark window of the plane.

"When I was planning on coming back, and doing everything, I knew I would need someone I could trust. And even though I had never been on the same side as Sark, I knew he was someone I could trust. So we, Simon and I, planned it so I could get him out of jail."

Vaughn looked back at her, remembering the night in the club where he had first met Simon, "That night, in Slankster's, there was a woman who came and sat down next to Simon as we were talking," he started, and looked to her for a reaction.

"That was me," she told him, looking him directly in the eye. "I wanted to be there, but I knew you couldn't see me. So there I was." She shrugged. "Great place, Slankster's," she muttered, chuckling and shaking her head.

Michael shrugged and looked back out the window. "So what do we do when we get home?"

"Nothing, we go on as normal, or as normal as we ever were." She looked out the window also, "You continue working for the CIA, and I," she dropped off before she said anything else.

Michael knew the conversation was over when she looked down at her book and began to read.

* * *

When they landed, there was a car waiting for them. And it was just like when Sydney had been thought to have killed Allison. She and Vaughn were taken directly into the Rotunda and taken into Dixon's office.

"I don't know whether you know," Dixon began, looking at the two of them, "but three days ago the Covenant was dismantled." He stared at Sydney and Vaughn who were sitting side by side in front of his desk.

Vaughn nodded, but Sydney didn't say anything, just looked at Dixon with a clear face. "I knew," Vaughn told him, "But I was tired up for the last three days, with something else." He told Dixon, with was partially true.

Dixon looked at Sydney, "Did you know anything about this?" He demanded, "I find it very strange that the day this happens you leave the country, going one place but wind up in London. Where it happened," he wasn't necessarily accusing her of anything, he just wanted answers.

"I agree, it does seem odd," she completely agreed with him. And Vaughn was finally realizing for the first time how hard it had been for Sydney to be a double agent.

"But you had nothing to do with it?" Dixon asked her, hoping that she would say she didn't know anything about it.

"I had nothing to do with it," she said calmly, as if it were true.

Dixon nodded, "The good news is that there is no more Covenant, the bad news is, we don't know who will take over in their absence." Dixon sighed as he sat back down. "You two can go home for the day, just come back tomorrow," he nodded at both of them.

Sydney pushed up with her bad arm without noticing it, and cursed. Dixon looked at her strangely, and Vaughn held her elbow, looking at her with a worried face.

"It's nothing, just cut it," she lied, blinking through tears caused by pain.

Dixon looked at her strangely, before nodding, "Go to the doctor if it gets worse," was all he said before looking back down at his papers.

Vaughn didn't let go of Sydney until they had gotten out of Dixon's office, "Are you alright?" He asked her worried.

"Yes," she nodded, putting her hand over where she was shot. "Honestly, I am, I just can't put to much pressure on it."

"I'll drive you home," he said, he knew her car wasn't there, and his was.

Surprisingly she nodded and let him lead her to his car. On the car out they passed Lauren who looked at the two of them with hatred. Michael and Sydney ignored the stares, but Michael had a terrible feeling that his soon to be ex-wife was not going to leave Sydney alone until she was ruined.

Once they had reached Sydney's house and she was safe inside, did Michael see her relax. Ever since she had been in the car to the airport has she been tense. He didn't want to ask her about it, but she saw the confused look on his face, "I don't like to leave home," she told him, sitting on the sofa, "And since this is sort of like home, I'm comfortable here."

She hadn't been like that before, so Michael knew it must have had something to do with her being with the Covenant for two years.

"Call me if you need anything," he looked down at her and smiled, "Anything at all, and I'll come by. I'm living next door now," he told her, and she smiled at him.

"Thanks, I will," even though she just planned on going to bed, she was beginning to feel dizzy, and needed to sleep. "Goodnight," she told him, smiling.

"Night," he told her and made his way back over to his new place. Eric was sleeping, as it was pretty late, he would talk to him in the morning on their way to work.

Sydney hadn't felt like going into her bedroom, she had gotten comfortable on her couch. She fell asleep flipping through the channels, and was woken up by her cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" She answered groggily.

"_Syd, it's me." _

"Oh, hello, Julian." She smiled, glad it was him.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright." He told her, and she smiled again. 

"I'm fine, I think I'm just going to go to bed." She paused for a second, "I'm glad you called," she said softly.

"_Really?"_ He sounded unsure and happy at the same time,_ "Then I'll defiantly call more often."_ He chuckled,_ "Alright, then, goodnight, love. Call me if you need anything." _

"I will, goodnight," she said and hung up the phone. She decided she would move into her bedroom and sleep in her bed. It was just inviting. She changed out of her clothing, and only managed to put on a tank top before tiredness washed over her, and she fell into bed with her underwear and a tank top on. She didn't care she was just so tired.

She barely had time to pull up the covers before she was fast asleep.

* * *

Sydney woke a few hours later to the sound of a door opening somewhere in her apartment. She knew she hadn't left any open and there wasn't a reason for anyone to come into her home, or at least she didn't think so. Grabbing her gun out of the bedside table drawer she managed to pull on some sweat pants before leaving her room. She didn't see anyone at first, but her senses told her that someone was there.

Turning quickly into the kitchen she found no one there, turning around slowly she was met by a fist flying into contact with her face, knocking her immediately unconscious.

* * *

Sydney woke up slowly a while later in a small room, all white, with a dirty mattress on the floor, onto which it seemed she had been dropped onto.

Her arm and head where both throbbing, and the bandage on her arm had blood on it, as if someone had ripped open her wound. She had no idea where she was, as was the usual case when she woke up after being knocked out by someone.

She didn't have to wait long to talk to someone, as the door opened and a short man walked in. "Hello, Sydney," he smiled. When she got a good look at him she saw it was Robert Lindsey, who was closely followed by Lauren Reed, who looked down at Sydney with glee.

Sydney stood and tried to keep her balance with all her might, which was hard seeing as her throbbing head was now making it very hard for her to see straight. "What do you want?" She demanded of them, trying her best to sound intimidating.

"Why, we just want to question you on some things. Mainly, some people's deaths." He said with a shrug, Lauren remained silent behind him. Her expression displaying her emotions.

"Where am I?" She asked them next.

"In a maximum security prison of course," Lauren finally opened her mouth, "They only send the really dangerous people here." She told her trying to hide her smile.

Sydney couldn't think of an answer, so she just stared at them.

"You will be moved to a cell a little later, but I think you should stay in solitary for a little while longer," Lindsey told her, smiling, and they both backed out of the room, the door shutting with a loud thunk and the door locked from the inside. There was no way for her to get out. Defeated and in pain Sydney dropped back down to the dirty mattress.

"What have I gotten myself into?" She asked herself out loud, putting her head in her hands.

In what seemed like hours later, the door to her cell opened again. This time it was four men she didn't know, each of them huge and sinister looking. One of them grabbed her by her good arm and dragged her up. Now, she was in all sorts of pain and didn't appreciate being handled like that, so she promptly punched the man holding her arm in the nose. And then kicked the next one in the knee, causing him to fall, finally she made her way out into the hallway, and began to run.

The alarm sounded, as she passed the guard station. Lauren and Lindsey ran out behind her, as the guards caught up to her. When they got a hold of her she was thrown into the wall and beaten with their batons. Not very good behavior of a prison.

An unconscious Sydney was carried by Lauren who looked down on her with shock, never having seen anyone beaten like that before, and thrown into a different cell, one more like a prison cell.

The bars shut with a loud noise and Lindsey nodded to the men who were going back into the office. He beckoned for Lauren to follow him, and he led her to Sydney's cell. "I know she won't talk, she's a very stubborn girl, but we can try," he told Lauren, a hidden meaning in what he was saying. And Lauren knew that Lindsey was just doing this because he hated Sydney. And she wasn't about to stop him.

Sydney awoke a few hours later with a headache worse than she had ever had before in her life, and her arm was throbbing, and the bandage had more blood on it. She was now in an actual prison cell, one with bars and everything, and it made her feel a little better then that room had. At least she could see outside. There was a little window over the makeshift bed that if she tried hard she could see out of.

She knew the torture would follow soon, first were the beatings, then the torture, she wondered what they would start with. Electric shock or perhaps something more original. She would just have to wait until later to find out.

Not much later, about half an hour later, Lindsey showed up with two guards, and opened her cell. She didn't have the strength to fight back as the guards grabbed her by the arms and dragged her down the hallway.

They took her into a room and strapped her down on an uncomfortable metal table. _Looks like it's going to be electric,_ she mentally sighed. A doctor that looked vaguely familiar stepped up beside her. "Sydney Bristow," he told her with a fake smile, "I've heard a lot about you." He told her as he put two sensors on her forehead.

She gave him a sarcastic smile, "Oh really, like what?"

"That you are really stubborn. Now, this is going to hurt you, quite a bit, but all you have to do is say what we want to know, and the pain will stop," he told her calmly. He turned on the machine to the lowest setting it was on. Electricity flowed through her body, shocking her and making her shake on the table. She said nothing, the Doctor looked at Lindsey and when Lindsey motioned for him to turn the power up, he did.

Still not a word out of Sydney's mouth. But the power was beginning to hurt more and more; soon she wouldn't be able to take it. Suddenly Lindsey's voice filled the room, "That's enough for today," he said, and the machine was turned off.

"Well, I'll be seeing you," the doctor told Sydney as she was carried out of the room and back to her cell.

* * *

It was like she was back in the Covenant's custody, in the days before she had convinced them she was broken. Still being tortured, they withheld food from her, giving her completely inedible food to eat. All trying to get her to tell them something they knew she wouldn't tell them. But that wasn't the real reason, the real reason was because Lauren and Lindsey hated her so much, they were twisted enough to not stop.

This went on for a week. She had become numb, the shock treatments only felt like needles being poked lightly into her skin, and they hadn't tried any other form of torture yet, so there was nothing new. She had also lost all hope of being rescued.

She had given up; it was on the eight day of her being held when things changed. The doctor that was giving her the shock treatments wasn't anywhere to be found. In his place there was a new doctor, a younger looking one, one that didn't look as friendly, on the contrary. This new doctor looked rather daunting, like he was capable of really hurting her.

He didn't do anything at first, just strapped her to the table and talked to her. Really talked to her, told her his life story. How he had been in love once, but she had left him to be with his brother. How he had become a doctor, a twisted one, and had actually been considered as being made the doctor for the Covenant. Before it had imploded that is.

He didn't seem to want to hurt her, but she knew he would, they were all the same. They would all hurt her; she just had to remain numb. This new doctor had heard of her too, heard of her stubbornness and her toughness. He would prove himself worthy if he could break her, and he was going to try his hardest, and not give up until she spoke, he was dead or she was dead.

He started out with electric shock as well; this was not a surprise to him. But he didn't start out with the lowest setting; he went straight to the highest. Seeing it had no outward affect on her, other than her shaking, he turned it off for a while and left her side. He came back a few minutes later with another machine, and hooked her up to this one as well, he was going to hook her up to both of them, or so it seemed.

Once she had been hooked up to the new machine, he turned on the first one, to high speed, but didn't turn on the second one, instead he reached over to his table and picked up a little blowtorch. Turning it on he watched her for a second before moving the flame closer to her skin.

The shock of the burn on her arm and the shock of electricity made her scream. For the first time in eight days did she scream. Her screams could be heard echoing through the entire wing of the prison. Reaching over with his other hand he made to turn the other machine on, but instead his hand was shot.

"Damnit!" He yelled, dropping the torch, turning it off, onto the floor and reaching into his pocket with his good hand for his gun. Not getting very far as he was shot several more times in the chest before he could defend himself.

Sydney was still shaking and screaming on the table, still hooked up to the machine that was on high. The shock was going to kill her. The person who had shot the doctor ran over, she could hardly hear the footsteps, and turned off the machine. She fell limp on the table, her head falling to the side, the pain in her arm was unbearable, she could feel her wound from getting shot had been ripped open once again and was now bleeding, and the burn wound was agonizing.

She couldn't bring herself to look at the person who was saving her, not knowing whether they were just going to hurt her as well. She felt her head being moved over to look at the person, "Sydney?" The worried British voice asked her.

"Julian?" She asked weakly, not opening her eyes, as she could hardly move.

"I'm here, love, I'm getting you out of here," his voice seemed far away, and she felt herself slipping out of reality. She felt herself being picked up and carried away from there. Being held closely to Sark's chest as he took her away.

She knew that she was in a helicopter and that there was yelling around her, she saw Simon and Vaughn looking scared and Sark was still holding her tightly against his chest. But the rest was dark; after they took off of the ground she couldn't remember anything.

* * *

When Sydney hadn't come into work the day after they had been questioned, Vaughn knew something was wrong. Sydney knew better to disappear; he had left on his lunch break and found her gone, her gun lying on the floor. Silently cursing the CIA because they had taken out the video surveillance before then.

He had a feeling that Lauren and Lindsey were behind this, but he couldn't prove it. He didn't even know if she was really gone, he just knew something bad was happening. He let it go the first day, but then the second day came by, and no Sydney.

Now Vaughn was exceedingly worried when Jack Bristow asked him where his daughter was. That was something he would never do. He had no choice; he had called the one person who needed to be told, Sark.

Dialing the number Sark had given him, his cell phone, Vaughn suspected, he waited for someone to answer.

"_Sark,"_ answered the crisp British voice.

"Sark, this is Agent Vaughn,"

_"Ah, Agent Vaughn, to what do I owe this pleasure? What pray tell am I being charged with now?" _

"Nothing, its Sydney,"

_"What's wrong with Sydney?"_ His voice dramatically changed, from a bitterly sarcastic tone to a deeply worried one.

"She's gone, someone took her. But I don't know where she is, but I might know who took her."

_"Someone took her,"_ Sark repeated, Vaughn could hear the anger rising in the man's voice._ "Who was it?"_ The calmness of his voice scared Michael.

"I think it was Robert Lindsey and Lauren Reed." Vaughn answered honestly.

"_Thank you, Agent Vaughn, I'll be in touch,"_ Sark told him briskly before he hung up the phone, leaving Vaughn to listen to the dial tone.

Stuffing the phone into his pocket he went in search of Lauren. He found her typing away at her computer in her office, he didn't knock just went right in, slamming the door behind her. "What did you do with her?" He demanded, trying not to yell to loudly.

"What are you talking about, Michael?" She asked, not looking up from her screen.

"What am I talking about? I'm talking about Sydney Bristow, what did you do with her?" He yelled, his temper getting the better of him.

"I personally did nothing to her," she answered in a calm voice, finally looking up at him. "We've made sure she can't hurt anyone else."

"We?" Michael screamed. "Who are we?"

"Director Lindsey, and I, of course. The NSC." She replied serenely.

"If you have put her somewhere where she is hurt, I will make sure you and Lindsey are ruined, do you understand me?" He threatened her before walking out. And there was no doubt in her mind that he would stand strongly on that threat.

Over the next few days he was in close contact with Sark and Simon, and finally on the seventh day of Sydney being gone, there was news of where she was being held. It was a maximum-security prison out in the desert. Incredibly high risk, but Sark and Simon had assembled a team to get Sydney extracted. They had narrowed the search down to the wing where they knew that she was going to be. They wanted Vaughn on that team, because they both felt the same way he did. The two Brits were flying out that night, and would be there by tomorrow, and then Michael would meet them there.

The next day, Sark and Simon had arranged a team with a helicopter to bring them in and get them out of the prison with Sydney, they hadn't slept the night before, and were all incredibly quiet. All wanting to get this over with and have Sydney back in their arms. Even though Simon and Sark would have to leave after Sydney was put in the hospital. Because no doubt she would have been tortured.

It was an unspoken agreement that Sark would be the one to carry Sydney out of the prison; she wouldn't fight him, if she had the strength to fight anyone.

Once they reached the prison, they and their men made there way inside, first they went to the block of cells, Sydney was not in any of them, the majority of them were empty.

There was another room, a large room that was like an operating room, that was the second most likely room she would be in. The three men raced down the hallway to said room, before they could reach the room guns were fired from behind them, the same time there was an inhuman scream coming from the room they were almost at. It was Sydney they all knew it was.

Simon and Vaughn nodded to Sark and began to shoot at the men whom were shooting at them. Sark rushed into the medical room and shot at the man who was holding a blow torch to Sydney's arm and had her hooked up to two electric shock machines and was about to turn on the second one.

The first shot hit the man in the doctor's coat in the hand, which made him drop the blowtorch and reach to get his gun. But he never had the chance; Sark had emptied his gun into the man's chest. Then he finally laid his eyes on Sydney, she was still hooked up to the machine and was shaking like crazy on the table. Running over he turned off the machine and pulled the sensors off her head.

She fell back limp onto the table as he unhooked her from the restraints on the table. She wouldn't look at him so he gently lifted her face to look at him. "Sydney?" He aske worried.

"Julian?" Was her weak reply, she didn't open her eyes, but she knew it was him.

"I'm here, love. I'm getting you out of here," her told her as he picked her up and cradled her against his chest. It almost killed him to see her bleeding and still shaking as she was.

The gunfire had stopped when he got into the hallway and he followed Vaughn and Simon who were running outside. They entered the helicopter and all turned their attention to Sydney, who had opened her eyes for a brief moment only to close them again, unconscious.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_A/N: Yep don't own a thing. Hope you guys like it! I'm not sure how many more chapters I'm gunna write, but it should be a few more. Have fun with this new chapter. Sarkney! Yay! R/R please! _

Sydney had been put in a CIA based hospital, Sark and Simon stayed for only five minutes after making sure that she would be cared for, being wanted most everywhere. Vaughn stayed by her side, she stayed unconscious for a day, the doctors saying she'd been under extensive torture for the last eight days. Robert Lindsey had been removed from his position, as torture was not allowed under any means, and was pending a trial to see if he would go to jail for it. Lauren Reed had done nothing, or so they thought, so nothing happened to her.

No one questioned Vaughn on how they got her back, they were just glad to have her back. People now had questions about the bullet wound on her left arm; there was no mention of that on the files from Lindsey. But those would have to wait until she was fully healed for that. The burn marks on her arm were all bandages up, they were 3rd degree burns, so they had to take special care for them.

Vaughn made regular calls to Sark, keeping him updated with Sydney's progress, which other than waking up, there wasn't anything report. She wouldn't talk to anyone, she just stared at the ceiling all day. The doctors thought it was because of shock, but with her, no one could tell.

Sydney stayed in the hospital for four days before Vaughn convinced the doctors to let him take her home. There were strict rules that she was not to be left alone; Vaughn said that he would move in with her for the time being, because so far, she had been most comfortable with him. She let him hold her hand while she was lying in the hospital bed, while everyone else she flinched away. No one could tell why, but they figured that it was better for her to stay with Vaughn.

On the day Vaughn was going to bring her home, Lauren showed up at the hospital. She went unnoticed by everyone until she stood in the doorway of Syd's room. It wasn't Vaughn who noticed her first, but Sydney, as Michael's back was to the door. The most reaction she had shown since she was extracted from the hospital was then; she visibly got paler as Lauren walked into the room. Michael took one look at her face getting paling and stood, whipping around to the face.

"What are you doing here Lauren?" He said angrily.

Lauren didn't look at him, just stared at Sydney. "I came," she started, but she honestly didn't know why she had come. She felt that she had to come see what she had ultimately caused. She hadn't known that Lindsey would take it that far.

"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice, timidly, talking another step forward, "I should have stopped him, but I-" She was silenced by Sydney.

"Get out," she said in a dry voice, and even though it was small and scratchy it was demanding, and rather scary. Lauren's eyes widened as she swiftly backed out of the room.

"Couldn't of said it better myself," Vaughn muttered as he turned around to see Sydney visibly calm down. "Ready to go?" He asked her, as she had been brought clothes and had changed before he had gotten there.

She nodded, sitting up slowly at first, and then swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Michael held her arm as she stood up on her legs. He put an arm around her waist to help steady her as they walked out of the hospital room. Many of the doctors who had worked with her came to see her off. Giving her a hospital chair to sit in, hospital protocol. She smiled weakly at them as they passed, but still said nothing.

Once they had reached the door, they discarded they wheelchair and walked the remaining way to Vaughn's car. Once he had placed Sydney in the passenger seat, Vaughn walked around the car to the driver's seat.

"You ready to go back home?" He asked her softly as they pulled out of the parking lot. Sydney kept her eyes on the road the entire road home, made for a very quiet ride, but Vaughn had gotten used to it over the past four days.

When they arrived at Sydney's house, Michael took the key from Sydney's bag, which he had gotten from Eric, and Sydney's bag and walked her to the front door. She hesitated at the door before entering, then a second later she shook her head and walked in. As if she were convincing herself that she wouldn't be taken this time.

Michael let her wander as he put her bag in her room, setting it on the chair beside her bed. Leaving her room he found her in the kitchen, looking in the refrigerator. Sitting down on the barstool he watched as she pulled out a bottle of water, like she had never left. "Want one?" She asked him, before she closed the door.

"No thanks," he shook his head, even though she wasn't looking at him. "So," he began as she sat on the counter, appearing much more comfortable here then she had at the hospital, "I told Sark you were coming home today."

She nodded and took a sip of water, "Good," she mumbled, not really hearing him. She was still in her own world. "I think I'm going to go sleep," she told him, jumping down off the counter. "You can set up the guest room if you'd like, or whatever, the stuff is in the hall closet." She told him as she left the room. "And I know, you're here if I need anything," she called to him as she reached her doorway.

Vaughn watched her with mixed feelings as she shut the door behind her. He knew that she wasn't feeling well, but he wouldn't press the matter. He couldn't, she was the only one who she would feel safe with until someone else came, which he knew someone would soon.

Abandoning the stool he sat on he walked around the house and into the guest bedroom, it wasn't set up, so he grabbed some sheets out of the hall closet, like she said.

After having gotten himself situated he walked back out into the living room and flopped down on the couch. Flipping through the channels he settled on a made for TV movie about spies. He enjoyed pointing out what they did wrong in these movies so he stayed with it.

Two hours later the movie had ended, Michael found himself incredibly bored. He didn't want to get up so he stayed there and flipped through the stations. Glancing at the clock he saw that it was just past eleven thirty. Sighing he stood, but as he was beginning to walk into the guest room, he heard the front door swing open. Now, he knew that other than Sydney had a key, he had asked around her friends and family, so he was a bit worried.

Walking out into the main hall he relaxed, but only slightly. It was Sark, "You know, I think we should be worried that wanted terrorists hold keys to the houses of our loved ones," Vaughn said sarcastically.

"You should be, yes," Sark told him as he shut the door and locked it behind him. "How is she?" He asked, taking off his coat and hanging it on the hook by the door. Vaughn wondered how many times Sark had been here, for his guess a lot, he had a key.

"She's fine, she went to sleep," Michael told him, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge.

"Are you staying?" Sark asked, from the hallway still.

"Yeah, the CIA wants someone with her at all times, and I was the choice," he said, pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge. "I was the only one she would let touch her," he said sadly, remembering the way she would shrink away from everyone else. Shaking his head he opened the bottle and took a sip.

Just then, both men heard a loud crashing noise from the other room, Sydney's room. Both set off at a run, Sark got there first, and he almost ripped the door off the hinges trying to get it open and into the room. They didn't see Sydney, but the bathroom door was open, and they both rushed over. Sydney was standing in front of the shattered mirror with a bloody fist at her side. She had bare feet and they were surrounded by shards of broken mirror.

She looked at them with a sad smile, turning she walked past them, her feet going over the glass, and drops of blood coming off her hand, she sat on the middle of the bed. The bandages on her arm were off, and lying on her table. She looked down at her arm; the burns were on her lower arm, as the bullet wound was on the top.

Sark first walked over to her and sat on the bed next to her, "Syd?" He asked timidly, it was the first time Vaughn had ever seen him remotely scared of something. Sydney didn't answer with words; instead she just shook her head. Sark didn't do anything, he didn't want to risk touching her, no just yet, so he scooted a bit closer to her and laid a tentative hand on her shoulder when she didn't move away.

She shifted her gaze from Sark's hand, to Sark and then to Vaughn. And then she looked down at her arm. And then the tears came; heart-wrenching sobs filled the arm around her as she doubled over into Sark's open arms, sobbing into her shoulder. She was shaking badly and Sark fought to keep her safe. Vaughn didn't know what to do, so he just stood here, shocked, he had never seen Sydney act like this. He had this impression of her burned into his mind, she was perfect in his mind and this was a new view of her.

Vaughn watched as Sark murmured things into her ear, then looked to him, "Get a glass of water." It was a question, and it wasn't a demand, it was this cold-blooded man's soft attempt at helping someone. Vaughn admired it in many ways as he went to go get the glass of water.

After about twenty minutes Sydney's sobbing had subdued into silent tears, and Michael walked out into the living room, closing the door behind them. Sark looked down at the crestfallen woman in his arms, "Sydney?" He asked softly, knowing that she would tell him what was wrong on her own time.

She didn't answer for a while, just let the tears fall, "I'm sorry," she mumbled against his neck. "I just," she sniffled, "I was so scared Julian, so scared." She kept on crying and Sark held her tightly.

"I'm tired," she said after a bit longer. Sark nodded and gently lay her down on the bed. His lips rested against her forehead. "I want you to stay here," she told him, he looked down at her and nodded. She needed him, and he, like any other human being, longed to be needed.

"Just let me go talk to Vaughn, I'll be right back," he promised her as he left a kiss on her lips and stood. Before leaving he pulled the covers around her, tomorrow morning she would need to re-bandage her arm. But he would let it go for right now.

Walking out into the living room he saw Michael sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. When he heard the other man walk out of the room and shut the door he looked up. "Is she alright?"

"Yes, she will be fine," he answered softly. "I'm staying here tonight," Sark informed him as he went into the kitchen, Vaughn following him.

"Does Syd know?" Vaughn was a little nervous about spending the night with a wanted terrorist.

"She asked me to stay," well sort of, he was staying anyway, she just asked him to stay with _her_. Two different things completely.

"Alright," he said hesitantly. "How long do you think you'll stay?"

Sark looked at the CIA agent, wondering how he felt about Sydney. "I don't know," he answered honestly, pulling a glass down and filling it with water. "But you should get some sleep, you look like you haven't in a week," oh, how true that statement was.

All Vaughn could do was nod, Sark walked out and back into Sydney's room, closing the door, and Vaughn walked into the guest room, he did need sleep. And maybe he would get it.

Sydney was curled up in a ball under the covers when Sark came back. Sighing he put the glass of water on the table beside the bed and shrugged off his shirt, throwing it onto the pile. Kicking off his shoes he took off his socks, then his pants, adding them to the pile. He slipped into bed behind Sydney and she turned and looked at him, as if to make sure it was really he. When she assured herself that it was, she turned back over but took his hand and held it, pulling it over her waist. He moved closer until his chest pressed against her back, and just held her.

Sydney sighed and began to fall into a restless sleep. It was as if she was taken over by nightmares, she cried out more than once and Sark struggled to keep her calm. She never fully woke up, but he was scared all the same. She rarely stayed quiet for more then ten minutes and never seemed to rest. Her eyes darted around under her eyelids, and Sark was hopeless.

A few minutes after one Sydney finally woke up. Sark was awake, and lying in the bed, quietly staring up at the ceiling. "Julian?" Sydney called out in a small voice beside him.

"I'm here, love," he told her, turning over on his side to look at her. "Are you alright?" He asked her, a frown coming onto his face, she was sweating, and had a terrified look in her eyes.

"Yeah," She said softly, wincing as she turned onto her bad arm before rolling off of it again. "It was just a nightmare." She told him, but it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.

"Do you want to try and go back to sleep?" He asked her, running a hand up and down her stomach.

"No, I can't sleep now," She shook her head, and sat up. "I'm hungry," it was rather sudden, and caused Sark to smirk.

"Want me to make you something?"

"Spaghetti?" She asked hopeful. It made Sark laugh.

"Alright, love." Sark pushed himself out of bed and slid on his pants, ignoring her gaze.

"I'm coming," She told him, and pushed herself off the bed. She had pants on, and a tank top, so she didn't need to put anything else on. She ran off the bed and held onto Sark's outstretched hand as they walked out. Aw, they looked like a happy couple, holding hands and walking through the house. No matter that one was a terrorist and the other supposedly worked for the CIA. And no mention that there was a potential jealous ex-boyfriend in the other room. But they could ignore all that.

Sark sat Sydney on one of the stools and began rummaging around in the cupboards for a box of spaghetti and a pot. One he had set up the pot with water and put it on the stove did he look over to her. She was watching him with a strange look in her eyes. "What?" He asked, frowning, not knowing if it was a bad thing, or a good one.

"Nothing," she said smiling.

A few minutes later he placed a plate of spaghetti in front of her, and sat down next to her, with on in front of him as well.

"Yum" she mumbled, "Thank you," she leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek before she looked back at her plate. "Who knew you could be so sweet," she mocked him.

"Yeah, well, just don't let anyone else know," he winked at her. "Eat up, before it gets cold," you didn't need to tell her twice.

She took a bite and smiled. "This is good," she told him, taking another bite.

"It's just pasta, Sydney," he laughed and bite into his own.

"Having a feast without me?" Vaughn asked from the door to his room. He was dressed in an undershirt and a pair of pants. He ignored Sark's naked torso, and walked into the kitchen, leaning on the counter.

"I was hungry," Sydney said blushing. She ignored the worried look Vaughn gave her and shrugged.

"It's okay," he smiled, and watched as they ate. Jealousy started to rear it's ugly head, but Michael swallowed it down, mostly it was because Sydney seemed so… happy with Sark. Like she had once felt happy with him.

But he couldn't think of that now.

No one was tired after they ate, it was just one of those things about eating pasta. It made you not tired, just full. Michael sat on the leather chair, and Sark and Sydney sat on the couch, Sark had his arm around her protectively. She had begun to get that scared hollow look in her eyes again and neither of the men wanted to see her break down again.

They sat quietly for a while before Sydney stood, "I need," she muttered before walking off, they were so startled that neither of them made a move, and they wee about to but then they heard the shower go on.

Both men relaxed visibly, feeling much better that they didn't hear sobbing instead.

"Well," Sark said, unsure of what to do now, not good at small talk, actually he wasn't really good at any talk, not with the CIA at least.

"So," as it would appear Michael wasn't either. So they sat there, listening to the water run in Sydney's room, and they both realized that this wasn't normal. Them, sitting there, not trying to kill each other. Had to say it was more fun when they did, but they knew they couldn't.

* * *

Both of them knew that the shower should not have been on for an hour. Girls liked their long showers, but they both knew Sydney would never be in the shower for an hour. Michael followed Sark into the room, but didn't enter the bathroom after him. Figuring that if she were in the shower, it would be a little awkward. "Bloody fucking hell!" Sark yelled exiting the bathroom with an extremely pissed face.

"She's not here!" He yelled to him, and looked around the room. Both of their eyes settled on the open window in the back of the room.

"Damnit," Michael swore, this wasn't good, and she wasn't strong enough to be out by herself.

Sark pulled out his cell phone, he first tried the number Sydney never shared with the CIA, they could hear it ring, looking around they saw it sat on the bedside table, next to her discarded bandages.

Canceling that call Sark called her other one, she didn't know that he had this number. "Who are you calling, now?" Michael asked from behind him.

"The phone she uses for the CIA," he answered, he would explain later.

It rang three times before someone answered. _"Hello?"_ Sydney's voice filled his ears.

"Sydney, where the bloody hell are you?" He demanded, trying to keep his voice calm.

She didn't answer him at first. _"I went for a drive."_ She answered simply. He could hear the traffic in the background.

"Why did you sneak out?" His voice stressed.

"_Because you wouldn't have let me gone by myself."_ She was right, he wouldn't have, he wouldn't have let her out of the bloody house.

"When are you coming back?"

_"Later." _

"Sydney," he said, sounding more threatening than he had intended to.

"_Sark," _she replied, meeting fire with fire.

Sark couldn't talk to her, instead he just held the phone out for Michael to take and looked at the floor. He was liable to start yelling at her.

"Hello?" Michael took the phone, unsure about what to say.

"_Vaughn?"_ She sounded confused.

"Yeah it's me, look why don't you just come home and we can forget about this."

_"Nope, sorry, look tell Sark not to worry, I'll be fine. And you don't worry either. I'm fine, I just needed to get away." _And she hung up.

"She's not coming back is she?" Sark asked him from where he stood, still looking at the floor. But when he looked up he looked incredibly defeated, almost like a small child.

"No," Michael told him, handing him back the phone, which he pocketed.

"I should have known something like this would have happened," he muttered to himself raking his hands through his golden curls.

"How? It's not like she's been with you all that long," he said bitterly, uh-oh. This might not go well. Damnit got to have feisty men

"Excuse me?" Sark said, rather scarily, drawing himself up to face him.

"Nothing," Vaughn muttered, looking away.

"No, you said something about her not being with me that long. In what ways do you consider being together, Agent Vaughn?"

"I said nothing, leave it alone," Vaughn said angrily, not wanting to get into this fight right now.

"If you mean how long have we been working together? Then it had been quite a while, as you were there when it all began. But if you mean how long have we been together intimately, then I'm sorry, Agent Vaughn, I won't be saying anything. Don't be upset that she picked me over you," he told him snidely. Here was the Sark Vaughn knew and loved.

But then again he hated him, so the reaction to that was completely called for, in his mind. Sark didn't expect Michael's fist to come flying to his face though. The punch caught him off guard, but not for long. He quickly gained the upper hand and punch Michael in the stomach. Taking out the gun he had in his pocket, he always had one in his pocket, he pointed it at Michael's head. "Are you sure you want to fight me, Agent Vaughn?" He asked in an icy voice that made Vaughn shudder.

"No," he answered honestly, and not only because he had a gun pointed at his head.

Sark shook his head and pocketed the gun again, "Good, because neither do I."

Sark shook his head and left him there, walking out of the room. Michael sighed and went and turned off the water in the shower.

This was going to make for an interesting story to tell one day.

* * *

Sydney didn't stop when she passed the _You Are Now Leaving LA_ sign on the highway. In fact she hardly noticed it. She wasn't tired, but she wasn't paying attention. She felt indifferent to everything that had gone on. The empty feeling made her feel whore, at least more than caring had.

She knew it she was becoming her mother. All she wanted was herself to be happy, even if that meant hurting others she loved. But she couldn't think about that, and she knew that the feeling would go away soon enough, and she would revert to the same old Sydney Bristow soon enough.

She didn't stop until it was five thirty in the morning. Finally feeling the affects of not having slept in a while. She stopped at a small motel outside the highway. It was a dirty motel, but one with beds. So she didn't care, and she knew that it wouldn't cost her all that much.

Throwing her jacket over her arms she cringed as the burned flesh pulled, but quickly got over it. She walked into the main office and waited for someone to come and help her. When no one came five minutes later she became impatient and walked back behind the desk. She took a key from the wall and put twenty bucks on the counter, as that was the going rate for a room, the sign said so. Taking the key, she found that she had gotten the room the furthest away from the building so she drove down there. No one else seemed to be here, but that was because it was early. Judging by all the cigarette butts lying on the ground she figured that this was a great place for whores to take their conquests for the night.

Rolling her eyes she unlocked the door to find a bland room, it wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be, at least the best looked clean. She shut the door behind her and locked it, making sure no one had followed her. Walking into the bathroom she saw that it was less clean than the rest of the place, but she didn't mind, she was used to dirty places.

Sighing she sat on the bed and threw her jacket on the other side. No way in hell was she going to take off anything else save maybe her shoes. And she was not going to get under those covers. No matter how good the room looked.

Sighing she picked her cell phone out of her pocket, dialing the first number that came into her head.

"_What?"_ Answered the gruff voice of Simon Walker.

"Simon, it's me," She said, stifling a laugh. He never was one to like getting calls from numbers he didn't know.

"_Oh,"_ he chuckled, "_Hey Jules. How're you?" _

"Oh I'm fine, all things considering."

"_Sark there?"_

"No, actually I'm not at my house."

_"What?"_ He yelled, _"But you, your not well, I mean, I thought." _He paused, _"Did you run away again Jules?"_

"I've never run away from them, that was only you." She smiled, remembering the last time she ran away from someone taking care of her. It had been last year, and she had been stabbed, but she didn't want to be left out of anything, so she locked Simon and Mark in a room so she could get out.

Simon sighed, _"Oh alright, but can I at least call Sark and tell him not to worry, that you'll be home soon?" _

"If you want," she chuckled, "Good night Simon," she told him before hanging up the phone. She wasn't going to risk getting Sark angrier with her so she didn't turn it off.

Instead she put it back into her jacket pocket and closed her eyes. She was in for a long day. She drifted off to sleep, one of the best nights rest she had had in a long time.

* * *

She awoke several hours later to the sound of banging on her door. Grumbling she got up from her resting place and padded over to the door, pulling her fingers through her tangled hair. She expected to find an angry manager when she opened the door, but no, she got a better surprise.

It was Sark, oh yes, an extremely pissed off Sark, which amused her greatly. He didn't say hello, just pushed past her into the motel room and started looking around. She shut the door gently behind him and rested her back against it. "So, what brings you this far away from LA," she said in a dismissive manner.

Sark turned and faced her, his fists balled at his sides. "What did you think you were doing?" He said in a frighteningly even voice. When she had run from Simon he had been angry, and this reaction startled her.

"I needed to get out," she shrugged, not moving form her position on the door.

"Yes, but running away? God are we in high school?" He asked her, cold laughing coming from him.

"Could be, you never know," she told him tilting her head. "How'd you find me?"

"How'd I find you? Hmm, well, one I knew what your car looks like; I've seen it enough to recognize it anywhere. And two, I just got lucky driving."

She shook her head, "Did Simon call you?"

"Yes, I found it rather interesting that you seem to have a habit of doing this."

She shrugged, not really wanting to play this game with her. She pushed herself off of the door and brushed past him and walking into the bathroom. He followed her, "I'm not letting you slip out of the damn window again," he muttered when he caught her look.

"Fine," she said and shrugged, stripping. She needed a shower, and so she was going to take one, him watching or not. "Perv," she muttered, laughing as she saw him look up and down her naked body.

If Sark heard he said nothing, instead he stood and stepped closer to her. They had been close enough already in the cramped bathroom, but now they were closer, their chests brushing against each other's lightly. He looked down at her; his angry subsiding not that he was this close to her.

Before either of them knew it they were kissing, hands running along the length of their bodies. She pushed off his shirt with such passion he had never experienced before. They didn't think they had ever wanted each other as much as they had at that moment.

Pulling back and grinned Sydney stepped into the shower; she kept the shower curtain and ran her hands up and down her body under the spray. Sark wasted no time in getting the message, within seconds he was naked and in the shower, covering her with kisses. His hands never leaving her body as he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

He pushed her up against the wall of the shower and thrust into her. Not gently, because he didn't want to and he knew she didn't either. She met his thrusts with small ones of her own with equal passion. Her mouth was latched onto his neck and he took one of her breasts into his mouth, nibbling on it gently.

She was almost over the edge and so was he, he sped up, she thrust down harder and they came together, climax rushing through their bodies as they cried out each other's names. The climax leaving them both gasping for air and sagging against each other. Neither had experienced anything like that before, and they both had liked it.

It was then, after such rough sex did they both realize the exact same thing; they were in love, with each other. Truly, madly and deeply in love, with the person who had once been their biggest enemy. And they were scared, sure they had been in love before, Sydney with Danny and Sark with Allison, but this love surpassed those. They didn't know what to do, it wasn't like they could just up and leave the spy world and live happily ever after for the rest of their lives.

No they had made to many enemies in their lives, and not to mention the people who would be angry with Sydney for leaving with who she left with. Mainly her father, one man whom Sark didn't want to have after him. Not that he wasn't already just that would be different.

They clung to each other, the forgotten shower beating against Sark's back. Sydney wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her, pressing her lips against his. Not as forcefully as before, but just as passionate.

Sark reached behind him and turned off the shower, it wouldn't be needed. He carried her into the other room and they all but fell onto the bed clawing at each other. They didn't bother with sheets, but instead Sydney rolled them over so she was on top. Straddling his waist she grinned down at him before she sat down on him and started thrusting up and down.

Reaching up his held her breasts in her hands and kneed them together, all the while meeting her thrusts. Just before he was pushed over the edge she stopped and rolled off of him, causing him to whimper.

She just smiled at him devilishly and kissed his lips. He took the opportunity to roll over on top of her, causing her to giggle. He thrust into her rather quickly, and she gasped, and then grinned, biting down onto his shoulder. He came a few thrusts later, and she followed him. He collapsed against her, and rolled off, she came with him and winded up laying over his chest, planting small kisses along his chest.

A while later he let out a satisfied sigh, "Are you still mad at me?" Sydney asked him, resting her chin on his chest.

He shook his head, "I'm all anger free," he said, bending down to kiss her lightly on the lips.

"Good," she smiled, hugging him tighter. Sark looked over at the clock; it was almost six o'clock and beginning to get dark.

"We should go soon," he murmured softly, looking wistfully out the window. Sydney scrunched up her face but didn't say anything. They lay there for five minutes before Sydney pushed herself up.

She walked into the bathroom and returned carrying her clothes and his clothes. She set her on the bed nicely, but his she threw at him. Laughing. "Oh, that's mature," he said, and shot up off the bed and before she knew it he was tackling her and tickling her.

"Stop!" She squealed, laughing hysterically as he tickled her.

He finally did stop and stood, still naked and held a hand down to her, "But seriously, we should get going." He grinned and grabbed for his pants, slipping them on.

They got dressed and left the motel, it looked used now, and all the whores that had gathered around the entrance were shooting glares at them. "Where's your car?" She asked him when she saw only his.

He shrugged, "I didn't drive," he said mischievously, winking at her, as they got into her car, not bothering to go return the key, but just leaving it in the doorway. They settled into her car, Sark behind the wheel and his hand on Sydney's knee. They didn't talk all the way back to LA, but they were content, figuring out what they needed to say, and how to say it.

They reached Sydney's house faster with him driving than they would have with her driving, mainly it was because he drove like he was a madman.

Before they had a chance to open the door it swung open with an angry looking Vaughn behind it, "Where the hell have you been?" He almost yelled at them. It was as if they were teenagers who had just been caught by their father.

Shrugging Sydney walked past him into her house and pulled Sark along behind her. "We got caught up," she said happily. Sark laughed and shook his head.

Michael paid no attention, but didn't say anything else. "Your father called," he told Sydney, "I told him you were sleeping." He didn't like lying to Jack because frankly Jack scared him.

"Thanks," she told him, sitting down on the couch. Sark sat down next to her as she reached for her phone and dialed her father's number.

"_Bristow,"_ he answered curtly.

"Hi, dad, it's me." Not that anyone else would call him dad, but okay.

"_Sydney,"_ he said, his voice becoming less angry, _"How're you feeling?"_

"I'm fine, Vaughn said you called earlier."

_"Oh yes,"_ he paused, _"It's about Lindsey,"_ hearing that name she instantly got stiffer, paler, and Sark pulled her closer to him.

"What about him?"

_"He was imprisoned, I wasn't given details, but they found enough evidence about him to find him guilty."  
_

"That's really good, dad," she said, trying to sound happy about this, even when she thought he should be dead. "Is that all?"

_"No, there was one more thing,"_ he paused and it sounded like he was shuffling through some papers._ "Have you seen or heard from Sark at all since we released him?"_

Sydney looked directly at Sark and lied to her father, "Nope, haven't seen him."

_"Oh,"_ he seemed disappointed.

"Why?"

_"No reason, we just were wondering, we thought he would have shown up somewhere, but he hadn't not really. We are worried he might be the next big thing after the Covenant."_

She shrugged, even though he couldn't see it. "Nope, sorry."

_"Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see. We still need to find out who Simon Walker's employer it,"_ Sydney grinned when her father said this._ "Oh yeah, there was one more thing, Dixon and I think you should take a break."  
_  
"A break, how long of a break?"  
_  
"Two weeks,"_ he said, looks like they had already planned this out.

"Ah, two weeks, can I leave the country?"

_"If you want to, we just think you should have some down time before you start working again,"_ he didn't have to add before you start working with Lauren again.

"I want to go to London," she told her father.

"_Alright, I can get you a flight, and you can decide where you want to stay. I'll get you a flight for London tomorrow."_ He really was a good father; he just didn't know how to deal with a daughter that was potentially not well that much.

"Thank you dad." She faked a yawn, "I think I'm going to go back to bed."

"_All right, I'll drop off your ticket later tonight, give it to Vaughn or you, who ever is awake. Sleep well,"_ he said before he hung up.

She set the phone on the table and tucked her legs under her, "I'm going to London tomorrow, for two weeks," she told them.

"Why?" Vaughn asked, Sark didn't need to know why he was just happy that she was going back with him. Not that he would have left her there.

"Because I need a break," she shrugged, "That's what Dixon and my dad decided. So I'm not to go into work for two weeks." She looked around and stretched, "He's bring the ticket he gets me over tonight."

Sark wrapped his other arm around her, "Are you going to sleep tonight? Or do you want to stay up?"

She nestled into his arms and shrugged, "I don't care, a mixture of both, I guess." She looked up at Vaughn, "You don't need to stay here," she told him and he understood she wasn't being mean or anything, "You can go back to Weiss's."

Vaughn thought it over and nodded, "Yeah, I think I will." He stood when the doorbell rang. Both Sydney and Vaughn looked at Sark who looked towards the door.

"I think I'll go be in some other room," he told them both as he walked into Sydney's bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Vaughn walked over and opened the door and saw that it was Jack.

"That was fast," Sydney remarked from her spot on the couch.

Jack shrugged and walked into her house, "Yeah well, you find the CIA has their good qualities." He said as he held up the ticket, "Eight thirty flight," he said as he put the ticket on her hall table. "It's an open ended ticket, so you can come home whenever.

Jack walked over and planted a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "Have fun," he told her, "I'll see you when you get back," he told her, straitening out and walking back towards the door. He nodded at Vaughn on his way out and shut the door behind him.

"That man scares me," Sark said, coming out of the bedroom.

Sydney giggled, "He has that affect on people," she told him, looking at Vaughn too.

"Well, I'd better get going," Vaughn, said suddenly. He walked into the guest room and grabbed his wallet and cell phone, "Need me," he said walking towards the door, "I'll be next door, literally." He waved to both of them as he walked out, leaving them alone.

It was only eight and neither of them knew what the wanted to do. They were hungry, "Want Chinese?" Sydney asked him as she stood and walked towards the kitchen.

"Sure," he said following her, holding onto her waist.

She got out the menu and handed it to him, "Order whatever you want, and I'll be right back." She told him, kissing him on the cheek.

Nodding Sark looked over the menu and ordered several things of food, knowing that she ate a lot.

She came back a few minutes later, having changed clothes. "It'll be here soon," he told her, as she came out.

She nodded and walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the favor by snaking his arms around her waist and pulling her closer, they stayed that was for a while, listening to each other breathe and holding each other.

She looked up at him and rested her chin on his chest.

"I love you," she whispered rather suddenly, but it didn't faze him at all, instead he smiled down at her.

"I love you, too," he said quietly and leaned down to kiss her. Looking back down she rested her cheek on his chest. Starting tomorrow they would spend two weeks together, and she wished she could stay like that forever.

_A/N : Don't make fun of it... I can't write the sex sences very well >>_


	15. Chapter Fifteen

_A/N: Yeah it's a little shorter than usual sorry. And sorry that it took so long to write. I just did it today actually, school and all. But I hope you like it. And yeah. R/R please! _

It was the day before she had to go back to LA. Tomorrow she would have to go back to her life and go back to hated Sark. Oh, how much they were both looking forward to tomorrow. Sydney had gone on a run, something she did regularly. Sark, Simon and Mark were all talking in the kitchen. Having pointless conversations, Sark had grown quite accustomed to Simon and Mark. And he found that he liked them very much. And they both liked him as well. He wasn't always the evil cold-hearted bastard that everyone made him out to be. Especially when he was around Sydney.

Today they were arguing whether who was better, the Russians or the CIA. Mark said nothing, just watched the two men argue, laughing silently to himself.

"The Russians are always getting themselves into trouble!"

"So is the CIA!" It had gone on for a while. And then finally Mark spoke up.

"How about, they both are better in some areas compared to the other. But neither are actually better then the other." Mark nodded, and Sark and Simon both stopped talking and looked at the older man. Then they glanced at each other, and shrugged.

"Fine," they muttered simultaneously. Mark laughed and shook his head. Standing up he walked around to the sink and grabbed a teapot.

"Tea?" He asked them, knowing they both would nod their heads without needing to look up. He liked them because of that. Sydney had always wanted coffee in the morning, and he hated coffee, he thought it was vile stuff, but yet he made it for her anyway, and made tea for himself. Having two other Brit's in the house that wanted tea over coffee was something he liked.

Putting the pot on the stove he jumped up to the counter. "Does Sydney have to go back tomorrow?" He asked, rather suddenly, but he had been thinking about it for a while.

"Yes," Sark said rather sadly.

"Oh." Mark had talked to her since she had gone back to the CIA and had been away from the house. She had always seemed so much happier being in London than she had when she was with the CIA.

Sark didn't question him further as to why he asked, knowing how much he cared for Sydney.

None of them said anything until the pot whistled, telling them that the water was ready, hopping off of the counter Mark reached up to grab three mugs and some tea bags.

After pouring water into each mug with the tea bags he set them on the table in front of Simon and Sark and sat down in his chair again. They all watched the tea slowly seep into the water. It was now a sullen mood as a boom of thunder went off in the background. Sydney would be coming home soon, they all thought, knowing she didn't like to run in a thunderstorm.

After a few more minutes they heard the back door slam, they all thought it was Sydney. What a mistake that was, the next thing they knew there were men dressed in black running into the kitchen, holding guns at them. Simon and Sark were clam, but Mark looked a little nervous. Sydney had warned him that this might on day happen, but he hadn't ever expected it to.

"Simon Walker and Mr. Sark, you are under arrest by the authority of the CIA." They said as they walked towards them, holding out handcuffs. The men paid Mark no attention, but just took Sark and Simon who could do nothing but stand there.

When they were situated they led the men out of the house and into black vans out front, talking about how easy that had been. They left Mark there, who after they heard them roll away collapsed to the floor, shaking.

* * *

Sydney arrived at the house five minutes later, she didn't see anyone at first so she walked into the kitchen. "Hey –" she stopped when she saw Mark crumpled on the floor. "Oh, my god," she said running over to him. "Mark, what happened?" She asked him as he held onto her like a scared child.

"They came, with guns." He muttered, not making much sense.

"Who came? Where are Simon and Sark?"

"They took them." Mark told her sadly, finally looking up at her. "The CIA, Syd, the CIA took them."

Syd's eyes widened as he said the name that she dreaded to hear. "When?" She asked coldly, but Mark knew it wasn't him that she was angry with.

"About five minutes ago." He told her, looking down. Sydney stood, pulling Mark with her.

"Pack some things," she told him, he nodded not asking where they were going. "Meet me in the garage in fifteen minutes, she told him before running off and up the stairs.

Once she was alone in her room she began to throw her things around, trying to find her guns. Once she found the one she wanted he stuffed it into the pocket as she grabbed her keys off of the bedside table. They were going to LA. She was going to find out what this was all about, and she was going to get them free. No matter what, she would get them out.

Once she got back downstairs into the garage she found Mark standing with her guard, both looking grim. She had locked the house up, and she knew that no one would enter it for a long time. She nodded to both of them. "Get me my jet, we are going to LA." She said as they got into the SUV parked a little ways away from them. The guard nodded as he sped off towards the airport, making calls on his cell phone.

Sydney knew that he would get them a jet. And maybe it they were lucky she would get to the CIA before they did. People would wonder, but she didn't care. She wondered why they had taken them. TO her knowledge they hadn't done anything big other then take down the Covenant, and that was at her bidding.

But she could wait to find out.

Once they got to the airport, her guard insisted that he come with him. Sydney was to tired to argue with him and she knew that Mark would feel safer if he had him there. So she just nodded in reply as they got on the plane. She gave Mark some aspirin and told him to try and get some sleep.

She sat down a few seats away across from the guard. "I don't know how they got in Miss Sydney." He answered honestly and shamefully.

She shook her head and placed her hands on his clasped hands that lay on the table. "It's not your fault, they can do a lot." She would know, she had done a lot with them. "I need you to stay with Mark." She told him and he nodded, knowing that she wouldn't want him to protect her now. "I'm going to take you both to the home I have there, the CIA took out the cameras in it a while ago." The guard looked up at her and nodded.

"Thank you," he told her. She was the only charge that he remotely cared for and he had had many charges.

"Welcome, and thank you." They were being honest. "You've done a lot for me over the years, and I'd probably be dead if it weren't for you."

He could say anything but she understood. "Try and get some rest," she told him softly before standing up and sitting in another seat.

* * *

Simon paced the cell that the CIA had thrown him in. It was a jail cell, they hadn't told him what they did wrong. Sark sat on his bed with his head in his hands. This cell was not as nice as his other one during his stay at the Rotunda. Simon and Sark could look through the bars into each other's cells. Both of them were thrilled to be there.

Simon made a growling sound as someone walked in. Two people actually, Jack Bristow and Michael Vaughn. Sark assumed dully that he was growling at Vaughn, since he didn't think Simon had had the pleasure of meeting Jack Bristow.

Vaughn said nothing, didn't even look at them, even though Sark glared challengingly at him. Daring him to say something, how they found the house, anything. But no, Vaughn appeared to be to much of a pansy at the moment.

"You gentlemen," Jack said icily, "are here because we have evidence that you committed a crime." He looked pointedly at Sark, whom he detested.

"Well duh," Sark said sarcastically. "What's it this time?"

Simon said nothing, just kept pacing, trying to ignore them. "Well, you, Mr. Walker, seemed to have been doing some illegally trades for information on the organization that used to be the Covenant." He said, Simon didn't even look up he was guilty of that. But Jack went on, "And you, Mr. Sark, are being charged with the murder of Paul Jamison."

Sark frowned, he hadn't killed him, but he wasn't going to say that. But he hadn't that that the CIA would care about the murder of a man that they were going to kill anyway. "And you are also being charged with the murder of Will Tippin." He added, Vaughn's head shot up, apparently he hadn't known about Will.

"He's dead?" Vaughn and Will had been friends at one point.

"Yes," Jack answered, without looking at him, his gaze still on Sark.

Sark didn't have anything to say, and then decided to be the sarcastic son of a bitch that he was known for. "Well, if you're done wasting our time." He said looking away from them. "We have to adjust to this lifestyle." He sneered, "I mean even though we'll only be in here for a short stay." He smirked, and Jack fumed.

"I wouldn't be so sure," he said bitterly before turning on his foot and storming out. Sark made him angry, no matter where he ran into him or what the situation was.

Vaughn didn't stay long either, he was deeply guilty for what had happened, and he didn't even know what had happened. He left rather quickly following after Jack.

"Damn him," Simon muttered after him. "I knew we should've killed him."

Sark thought on that statement for a moment, "I don't think he had anything to do with this," it was an odd statement, coming from him, he understood that, but he really didn't think that Michael would do that. Give up where they lived. And plus, Jack thought that he had killed Paul, Vaughn saw Sydney kill him, or just after she did.

"Why not?" Simon asked, stopping his pacing to face Sark.

"He cares about Sydney to much." Sark said simply. "He wouldn't do something that would hurt her this much."

Simon considered this and opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it. Instead he just sat down on his makeshift bed and faced Sark. "So what do we do now?" Simon had obviously never been in jail with the CIA before.

"Now, we wait," Sark smirked.

* * *

Sydney had taken the two men to her apartment and left them there, telling them they could do whatever they wanted she just wanted them to stay inside the house. They would be safe there, she knew, and she needed them to be safe, she wouldn't be able to handle something happening to them as well.

She was now speeding off towards the Rotunda, where she knew they would have her. She had a gun in her pocket and she would shoot anyone who got in her way. She would get them out.

She was driving pretty fast and made it to the Rotunda in fifteen minutes, a trip that usually took her thirty. Storming inside she made her way to Dixon's office. None of the people milling around thought any differently upon seeing her this way, they were so used to see her doing this.

She flung open the door to Dixon's office and found her father, Vaughn, Eric and Dixon all sitting down, talking. They all stood when they saw her. Michael wouldn't look her in the eye, she would deal with him later.

"Syd, you're back early." Dixon said, very surprised at seeing here today. He hadn't expected her back until tomorrow.

"You have Sark and Mr. Walker in custody, why?" She asked through gritted teeth, regaining her breath back.

"I would ask you how you knew that," her father started, "but I don't think I want to know why."

She couldn't talk to them; she needed to see her two men they had taken. "Where are they?" She asked, even though she knew full well where they were. But she would much rather have their permission to go see them, then get on their bad side right now.

"You can't see them right now, Sydney," Dixon told her shaking her head.

"Fine," she said and stormed out of the office, they all knew where she was going; she was going to see them anyway. Michael was the first one out of the door; they followed her to the holding cells.

"Syd!" Michael called after her as she made her was into the main room where they were. She had to fight her way past a few guards but she finally got to them.

Sark and Simon had both looked towards the main entrance upon hearing Michael yelled Syd's name. So she was here, just as Sark had thought.

A moment later she came into view. She walked to where the cells connected and stopped. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. Both men got up and walked over to her. Sark reached through the bars and laid a hand on his shoulder. The people following her took that moment to walk into the room.

"Let go of her!" Jack roared. Sydney took a step back and Sark felt his hand drop.

"Let them go." Sydney said, looking at the four men who were standing there. They each had a look of confusion on their faces.

"We have no intention of letting them go. They are murders and thieves."

"Who did they kill?" She asked them, knowing who it would probably be.

"Paul Jamison, ever heard of him?" Eric asked her, this being the first time he had spoken since she stormed in.

"Yes, and now let them go. They didn't kill him."

"How would you know?" Dixon asked her, fearing the answer.

She looked directly at Vaughn, "Because I was there." She said simply and Vaughn looked up, silently pleading with her to understand. He hadn't told them anything, they had figured it out on their own, through video surveillance, she had never been caught on screen. She understood, and much to everyone's dismay she went on.

"Sark didn't kill him, and anything you have on Simon wasn't done for him. It was done for his employer."

"Sydney stop, don't." Sark pleaded with her, ignoring the look that Jack gave him for talking to his daughter.

"No, I want to say this." She shot back at him, glancing at him then looking at Simon. "You could never figure out who Simon's employer was, could you? Not from the first time he met with Vaughn." She watched as Eric shook his head, but Dixon and Jack just stared at her.

"Simon works for me." She told them, Eric, Jack and Dixon's eyes widened. "I killed Paul Jamison, it was my idea to bring down the Covenant." She let it all out, and she felt much better for it, but she also felt horrible at the look on Eric's face, she had never wanted to hurt him this way.

Dixon wasn't about to believe this, "What about Will Tippin?" He asked, knowing she wouldn't have killed her once best friends.

"I killed him as well. Sark," she looked at him sadly, he held his head in his hands, "tried to talk me out of it, and that's the only reason why he was there."

"Why?" Jack managed to ask her, he couldn't believe how she reminded him of Irina at this moment.

"He was working for the Covenant."

"But, we never found any evidence-" Dixon let his voice fade away. She had had the disk with the information on it for a while, she must have read it, and taken it off.

"Sydney," Michael started but stopped when she held her hand up.

"You don't understand do you?" She shook her head sadly, "Let these two go," she gestured at Simon and Sark, "They didn't do anything that they weren't told to do. And don't give me that bull story about how I shouldn't have killed anyone, or destroyed the Covenant because you were going to do it anyway. It was just more personal for me."

"You were the one to get Sark out of prison weren't you?" Jack asked him, finally all of this was making sense in his head. She truly was her mother's daughter.

"Yes, I did break him out. I needed him." She shrugged. Eric wouldn't look at her neither would Dixon. Vaughn felt horrible at all of this, he had known and now it was hurting the people they both cared about. Looking back at Sydney he could see it on her face as well.

"You broke into my house," she held up her hand when Dixon was going to say something and continued, "You took two people out of my house. My guests, you scared the living daylights out of Mark and you made my guard feel that he was unworthy of the job he had. I'm sorry for hurting any of you, but everything that was done was done at my expense. And now, please, let them go. They aren't going to take the place of the new Covenant, I wouldn't let them."

Eric walked out, he didn't want them to see the hurt on his face, Jack couldn't speak and Dixon didn't want to. "Fine," he said defeated. "Where are they going?" He asked her, motioning for one of the guards to come.

"To my apartment for the time being, then to London." She told them, holding her head up high and she stepped away from the cells as the guard went to unlock them.

"Sydney, you are staying here," Dixon told her, in a stony voice, void of emotion, for her feared what emotions he let out would tear him apart.

Sydney watched as Sark and Simon exited the cells they had, but did not come over to her, a guard stood blocking their way. "Get them a transport," Dixon told the men, hating that he was letting two criminals go. The men nodded and walked Sark and Simon out, Sark turned to look at Sydney, looking defeated, but was pushed onwards before he could say anything.

"Come with me," Dixon ordered as he turned on his heel, Sydney followed him with her head down and Michael and Jack followed after her. Once they were in his office Dixon sat down behind his desk and motioned for Syd and the others to sit down. "Start from the beginning. From when you disappeared." He demanded tersely.

Sydney wrung her hands together before she started. "After the fight, the one with Allison Doren, the Covenant set fire to my apartment." Dixon nodded he knew all this. "Well, they took me and Allison out of it first, I don't know what they didn't with her, but they took me to the hospital. I'm not sure why, but they didn't do anything until I had recovered from the fight." She paused, fighting down the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

"Then the brainwashing started. They tried for six months to break me, trying to tell me I was Julia Thorne, a hired assassin who worked for the Covenant. But because of Project Christmas," Jack straightened at the mention of this, "I couldn't be broken. So I had to pretend to be her, so they wouldn't kill me.

"Then, they were done with the brainwashing, I had to kill someone, as a test, to see if I had really changed. I passed they let me be Julia Throne. And through the remaining six months of that year I rose quickly in the operations of the Covenant. I don't know why, but I did. I met Simon he became my partner. Paul Jamison ran the Covenant, ran the operations that were meant for me. He was probably the only one who realized that I wouldn't stay with them. The next year passed and I got fed up with the Covenant."

She stopped talking for a moment, trying to find the right words to say this. She hadn't told anyone the whole story, not even Sark, and the only reason Simon knew was because he had been with her. "I left them, left the Covenant. I was never touched after then, but I was watched. Paul knew the strength I had, I could have brought them to destruction if I had wanted to. And I did, but not then. I worked by myself and Simon came with me." She looked at Michael, "I actually was in LA for a while checking on all of you, but you had lives, I didn't fit in here anymore," she didn't have to add that she still didn't.

"I didn't do much of anything for a while, only a few random things. Then later on in that year I met Paul in a club and he gave me information of Allison Doren. Where she was. After three years I still had a grudge against her, she stole away the one person in my life who hadn't been affected by what I did." She sighed and looked down at her hands. "I had her brought to me, and I killed her." She shook her head, "Then I wanted Sark." Michael coughed, this was the part that he knew about, the part that worried him the most. "As it figured it wasn't enough that I just got him out of prison. We became partners," she shook her head sadly at the look of disturbance in Jack's face. "Paul contacted me, he wanted Sark dead, figured I had to do it, since he was the on who had given me information on Allison. An eye for an eye." She laughed bitterly. "I didn't do it, obviously. But then you asked me to get the disk from the Covenant, with everyone in the operations on it. Will Tippin was on it, he had been with them for a year.

"I couldn't stand that they had taken both of my friends from me. I killed him, here in LA. And then we brought down the Covenant." She looked at Vaughn, wondering whether or not to say that he was the one who had shot her. Deciding against it, he would get in trouble too, "I killed Paul and Sark, Simon and I took down the Covenant, just like you were going to. I was shot by a security guard on the way out. And you know the rest." She leaned back into her seat, feeling a mixture of gratefulness and defeat at having told the entire story. But she feared what would come next.

None of them spoke for a few minutes after she had stopped speaking. Vaughn was the first one. "It's not true," he said bitterly, his voice laced with guilt. "She wasn't shot by a security guard. I shot her." He said bitterly, looking right at her, and he sighed.

"Well, I never thought I would see the day when anything like this would happen," Dixon muttered, he meant her working with Sark.

"I could have," Jack muttered, more to himself than the rest of them.

Sydney's head shot up, "What?" She asked him, rather surprised.

"You do have Irina Derevko as a mother," he said rationally.

She could have cried at that moment. It all came together, the thoughts that she had been dreading and yet she had known for three years; She was her mother's daughter. Not only did she look like her mother, she had the same mindset, and she had been doing something like what her mother had been doing for a while. She held her head strong but Michael could see that she was ready to break down.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with any of you." He said sadly and shook his head. "Sydney, you aren't going to go anywhere, I want you to stay in LA for the time being. And if you leave then I will have no choice but to arrest you. And Michael you are being suspended from active field duty."

They both nodded, not wanting to look at each other, "Go home, now though, Syd someone will call you when I want you to come back." She nodded and the two stood up. They started walking out; it was as if they were little kids and had just been yelled at.

Dixon put his head in his hands as they walked out. He had lost her, he thought and knew Jack was thinking it too.

Sydney didn't talk to Vaughn as they walked out, and neither knew where Eric had gone. Vaughn didn't say anything either, he walked her to his car, "I'll be seeing you," she said quietly as she got into her car. He watched her drive off sadly; the next few days would certainly be interesting.

* * *

Sydney entered her house and threw the keys on her hall table. Four pairs of sullen eyes greeted her. "Hey guys," she said trying to smile as she plopped herself down onto a chair.

They all looked at her worried. They all needed to know what was going on. "Oh, right," she muttered to herself, and then looked at the ceiling. "You all shouldn't be in any more trouble. You can go back to London whenever." She told them, not looking at them, nor adding that she herself couldn't go back for a while.

"Syd-" Sark started, but she shook her head and stood up.

"Don't say anything." She muttered to him. "I need to think, damnit." She cursed as she walked into the kitchen. Talking a glass from her cabinet, aware that they were all watching her, she filled the glass with water.

She wasn't thirsty though; she just looked down at the water. "Damnit," she screamed as she flung the glass across the room. All the men stood up. But she wouldn't let any of them come near her. She needed to think, she couldn't think with people surrounding her.

She didn't her best to ignore the hurt looks that everyone was giving her as she stomped into her bedroom. She as she shut the floor she slid to the floor and burst into tears. She didn't bother locking the door as she crawled over to her bed and lay face down, crying into her pillow.

She dully noted as she heard her door open and close. She knew someone had come in but she didn't care whom. She had a feeling it was Sark, but she didn't want him to see her this way.

She felt someone sit on her bed next to her, a hand softly touch her back. "Syd," Sark called to her softly. That was all she could handle, she sat up into his arms and sobbed into his shoulder.

"I don't know what to do," she cried, and that scared her. She always had a plan, always knew what she was going to do, and now she didn't, and it scared her more than anything. And all he could do was hold her.

_A/N: Sorry if I've contradicted myself in any of this. I'm tired and all and yeah, I didn't feel like going back and rading over everything to make sure. So yeah._


	16. Chapter Sixteen

_A/N: Yeah... don't own a thing. And r/r please. I'm not sure how many more chapters of this story there will be. Maybe two more, I'm thinking. I'm not sure though. Nothing really big happens in this one, but I hope you like it. _

The next week was hard on Sydney. Actually it was hard on all of them. She wouldn't leave her room, she wouldn't talk to them, and she would hardly eat. The men stayed in her apartment. They got out cots and camped out in the living room and in the guest room. Sark stayed in Sydney's room, in her chair, keeping eyes over the one he loved. They had never seen a man so worried before they had witnessed Sark like this. And the sad thing was, with all the stories that they had heard about Sark, they thought it was the most uncharacteristic thing that he had ever done. Besides partner up with Sydney in the first place.

A week after they had come back Vaughn came by. He spoke to only Sark as e tried to get in to see Sydney. He saw her, she looked at him like she was looking through him. But it wasn't just him, she was deep in though, her gaze pierced through everything she looked at. It broke Vaughn's heart. Sark had left him alone in the room with her, something else he would not have done under normal circumstances.

He listened thought the door as Vaughn talked to Sydney. And he listened, as she said nothing back. He kept talking, explaining how the CIA had found out about the murder. He also explained how no one hated her, and everyone missed her. At those comments she looked like she was about to respond, but it always turns out to be nothing.

Finally after an hour of talking Vaughn gave up. Sydney had not uttered a word, and so he just gave up. If she wasn't going to talk to him, he couldn't sit there and try and bring her back. Even though it scared him, scared him to death that she was being like this. He somehow knew that she would snap out of it, but it had to be on her own time. He stood, planted a small kiss on his forehead and walked out of her room.

He wouldn't meet the eyes of anyone else, and they all took it to mean that he had gotten nothing out of the girl that they were all worried about so much.

And being that Sark had been listening he didn't need Michael to explain to them how the CIA found out about Paul Jamison and Will Tippin being killed. He would explain it to Simon later. Before he left Vaughn turned and looked straight at Sark, "They miss her," he said simply before slipping out of the apartment.

Sark had shaken his head sadly and sat down on the couch. The door to Sydney's room was closed and he rubbed his eyes. "I don't know what to do," he said softly.

Simon looked over from his seat on a stool at the counter. "I know, mate, I know." He said sadly. He didn't either, no one did. They all knew this wasn't healthy for her and she couldn't keep on living this way.

After a few moments of silence they heard the shower turn on and they all sort of jumped, as it broke the pensive silence they had all ensued. Mark shook his head sadly; "I wish we could take her away from here. Somewhere nice." He said this almost as if he was talking to himself.

Sark looked up, "We can't take her anywhere, not now." The CIA would be on them like a pack of dogs. They would all get in trouble and Sydney probably would too. Even though he wholeheartedly agreed with the man.

Sark dropped his head back into his hands and sighed. "You need to sleep," Simon pointed out. Sark had slept the least out of them only sleeping when she did, and then incredibly lightly, so that he would awaken anytime she called out anything. There was a muffled reply then silence.

Suddenly Sark stood, "I'll be in there," he pointed to Sydney's room before he walked into her room, closing the door behind him. He had walked with an air of purpose, something that none of them had seen in a while.

Sark sat on the bed, and waited for Sydney to get out of the shower. Luckily she was not one of those girls who would spend an hour in the shower, so he didn't have to wait long. In about ten minutes the water cut off and he heard the shower door open. A short while later she appeared in the bathroom door.

"Sydney," he said softly, standing walking closer to her. He looked down at her and was startled at how much she looked like a child. It was alarming really; she looked like a vulnerable child, one that needed protecting.

"Sark," she whispered and her voice sounded a little strange to his ears. Before her could say anything she had stepped closer and was wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her head in his shoulder. She didn't cry, she had no more tears left; all she wanted was to be held.

He slowly wrapped his arms around her back, and pulled her even closer.

They stayed this way for several minutes, just holding each other, listening to one another breathe. Sark heard her try and stifle a yawn. "You need sleep," he murmured into her hair. He felt her nod slightly and she let him lead her over to the bed.

"Stay with me?" She asked him softly, her eyes pleading with him to stay. He nodded and she offered him a small smile. He took off his shoes as she put on a tank top and a pair of shorts. She slipped under the covers as he stripped to his boxers and slipped in after her.

She pulled his arm around her waist and snuggled up to his chest. He buried his face into her hair and breathed in the sweet scent of her shampoo. They looked like a normal couple, and they both felt like one as well. Soon they were both asleep, the best sleep they had gotten in a week.

* * *

Marshall found Vaughn first. Vaughn had been sleeping in his office on the couch. Not wanting to go back to Eric's and certainly not wanting to go back to Lauren's. He was planning on divorcing her, as long as she didn't get to it first. Vaughn let out a yawn as he heard a tentative knock on the door. "Come in," he called and waited for the door open.

He hadn't expected Marshall, but that was who decided to come see how he was. "Hi," he said and it seemed to Michael that he was worried, what about he didn't know, nor did he feel like finding out. Instead he sat up and motioned for Marshall to take a seat. Marshall did and started to fumble with his hands.

"What an I do for you, Marshall?" He asked kindly, rather amused, yet sadden, at this all to familiar behavior.

"Is Syd okay?" He asked, it seemed like a rather sudden question but he had been rehearsing it for a while.

And the worse part was that Michael didn't know. "Honestly Marshall, I don't think so." He sighed and leaned back onto the couch. "She is torn up inside because she thinks that everyone hates her here." Actually he didn't know that, but he knew she would be worried about that.

"But, I don't hate her!" Marshall seemed appalled at that notion.

"I know you don't, Marshall," he said rubbing his eyes. "But she thinks that you and Eric and Dixon and her dad all are angry with her."

Truth be told Dixon was a little angry, Eric was more hurt and no one knew what Jack was feeling. And obviously Marshall was worried. "Do you," he paused, shifting his gaze away form Michael, "Do you think I could, maybe, go see her? To say hi?" He asked weakly, afraid that Michael would blow up on him and say no.

Instead Michael gave him a small smile, "I think she would like that." He said, and Marshall stood. "Not now though, I think she needs to rest, go see her tomorrow." He nodded and Marshall nodded as well.

"Thank you, Mr. Vaughn," Marshall had always acted like the men who worked in the fields where his hero's, and in a way they were. He looked up to them, but he didn't realize that they needed him the most. But that was for another day. On his way out he stopped at the door and looked back at the crunched up form on the couch, "You know, no one hates you either." He said in a calm voice. Michael looked up at him startled, but never had a chance to say anything, as Marshall had quickly vacated his office.

With a sigh he quickly lay back down on his couch and closed his eyes. He was beginning to look worse for the wear and he knew it. He hated being the man who lived out of his office, ate, slept and did everything there. But he was becoming one of them.

He didn't even notice Eric come into the office and shut the door behind him until he was sitting in the chair Marshall had just vacated.

"Eric-" he began, he hadn't really talked to him for a week, and that hurt him deeply. Before he could go on Eric held up a hand.

"I'm not mad at you and Syd for what happened. I'm not surprised, because I know if it had been me that I would have done the same thing in your position." He paused and it seemed to Michael that he was trying to find his words. "I just needed time to think it over." He said honestly. "And I have, and I want you to know that you can have your room back if you want it." He looked around and offered him a small smile, "It might not be much, but it sure as hell is better than this office." He laughed, Michael knew that everything was going to be alright with his best friend.

Michael sat up, "Thank god, I was beginning to become one of those guys who never leaves the office." He shook his head and laughed. "Thank you, Eric," He didn't have to go on, because Eric nodded, and didn't want him to go on.

"Anytime, buddy." He chuckled and looked down at his watch, "But now, I say we go home, it's late, and I'm hungry." He stood up and looked down at Michael, who was just standing up. "Damn you look like hell," never subtle but that was okay. "I think I might go see Sydney with Marshall tomorrow," he said suddenly as they walked down to the car park together.

"I think she would like that," Michael told him in reply and hoped that they would get a better reaction from her than he had.

* * *

Sydney jumped slightly when the doorbell rang. Sark was in the shower and she had been watching a Lifetime movie, because it helped to have some sappy movie playing the background. Getting up she stretched and went to go answer the door.

She was very surprised to see Marshall and Eric standing in her doorway holding flowers. "Hey," she smiled, happy that they had come. She held open the door for them to come in, which they did, and Marshall handed her the flowers that they had gotten for her.

"How're you doing?" Eric asked, dully noting the shower running in the background.

She smiled and shrugged, "Fine, thanks," she was rather nervous. She didn't know if they were going to start yelling at her. But then again they had brought flowers, so she guessed that they wouldn't bring flowers if they were just going to yell at her.

"That's good," awkward silence. Marshall looked so nervous that Sydney couldn't help be amused.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Both of them shook her head, and then Marshall did something that no one expected. He hugged Sydney. Like, really hugged her, it shocked her at first but then she smiled and wrapped her arms back around him. He let go a minute later. "What was that for?" She asked with a smile. Eric was chuckling to himself behind Marshall.

"I don't know," Marshall said laughing as well. And they could all tell that things were going to go back to normal between them.

They sat on the couch and began talking like nothing had happened, they didn't ask her any questions and she told them nothing, but they liked it that way, they didn't want to think about what had happened. So they wouldn't.

And then Sark came out of the bedroom. He had thought that Sydney had just been laughing at the TV, but he was shocked to find Eric Weiss and Marshall sitting on the couch as well.

Well, at least he had gotten dressed. It would have been worse had he come out with just a pair of boxers on. Sydney giggled silently to herself at that reaction.

Marshall's eyes widen and Eric coughed, both of them looked to Sydney like she was crazy. All she could do was shake her head, "He's living here for the time being." She told them in a small voice, hoping that they wouldn't run back to Dixon, or her father, with news that Sydney was living with a terrorist.

"Okay," Eric said and nodded, leaning back into the cough, Marshall saw Eric relax and so he started to, too. Thinking that if Eric could relax around him then he could. Plus he had dealt with Sark before, and Sark had rather liked him before. As much as you could like a scary British man.

Nodding at this acceptance of him Sark walked over and sat next to Sydney, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"We miss you, Syd," Eric said from his seat, looking at her sadly, "We all do, even Dixon."

She nodded sadly, "I miss you all too," she answered quietly. "But I don't know how to fix this." The thought of leaving the life once more crossed her mind. But she frowned and quickly pushed it away, not before Sark noticed anything, he shot her a strange look then shrugged. He would find out later.

"Well," Marshall started then paused. "I think we should all go out to dinner." Random, they hadn't gone out to dinner in a long time. "We could have a big dinner, like a party, and it would be fun." He paused and then looked at Sark, "Erm, you could come too? Though I'm not sure Mr. Bristow would like that to much."

Sark shook is head, "If Mr. Bristow is there I'm afraid I will be elsewhere." He shuddered, and they all laughed.

"I'm not sure why everyone is so afraid of him," Sydney said, laughing even though she had a guess.

"Oh really?" Eric asked sarcastically still laughing.

She shook her head and leaned back on Sark's chest and smiled as his arm tightened around her.

Eric looked at his watch, "I think we should be going, Marshall here has a family to go take care of." Everyone stood up, and smiled.

"That's right, Marshall I'm disappointed, I was expecting baby pictures," Sydney teased him.

Marshall blushed, "Next time," he was incredibly proud of his baby boy. Sydney in turn hugged both of them, and they even got the courage to shake Sark's hand.

Sydney saw them to the door and made them promise that they would come back soon for dinner sometime. She smiled at Sark when she shut the door and rested her back against it. Tonight was the first time she had really smiled in a long time, and he liked that.

"That was nice of them," Sark remarked from the living room.

"Yeah, it was," Sydney smiled to herself as she walked back into the living room and flopped down on the couch, pulling Sark down next to her. Sark wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer as she rested her head on his chest.

"What were you thinking about?" Sark murmured softly after a few minutes.

Sydney sighed, "Nothing really, just silly thoughts." She truly believed that no matter what they did they would be in this life forever.

"Tell me," he requested softly, he wanted to know.

She sighed again and sat up straighter, she looked him in the eye, "I was thinking that we could get out," she said quietly, almost afraid of what his reaction would be.

"Get out." He replied, trying to make sure he understood.

"Yes," she nodded, "Get out of this life, try and live as normal as we could."

"You know that we could never live perfectly normal lives," he pointed out and watched as she nodded.

"Yes, but they could be more normal as this," she moved her hands out in front of her, looking around and then down at the floor. "I just think it's time that I leave."

Notice she didn't say we, she wouldn't force a normal life on him if he didn't want it, but this was something she had thought about for a while, and this was something she wanted.

He noticed this too. "Where would you live? Here?"

She shook her head, "No. I would live in London, maybe sell most of the other homes." Sark had yet to go to the other homes, but he didn't mind that.

Sark rubbed his forehead with one hand as he held onto Sydney's with the other. "What about our business?" Sydney shrugged, she new it could become the next Covenant; it could be greater than that. But she didn't want it. She hadn't created it because she wanted power she wanted a safe haven from the Covenant at the time.

"There are several people we could give it to."

"Like whom?"

"Simon," she said, that was the obvious choice, "Or my mother," which was the less obvious choice. "Whomever we felt comfortable with." She paused and looked back up at him, "Look, I'm not trying to force anything on you, this is just something I want."

Sark sighed, "I know, and trust me, I want it too, but I don't know if we could ever do that. Not yet anyway, there are probably so many people after us, and I just don't know." He liked this kind of life; it had been the only thing solid in his life before Sydney. But he knew he couldn't stay in it forever.

Sydney nodded sadly, "Like I said, just a silly thought," she looked down at his chest so he couldn't see the tears in her eyes.

Sark didn't say anything just pulled her into a hug and held her tightly as he thought over everything they had just talked about.

* * *

The next day Sydney was called back into work. Not work, work, she was called in for a meeting with Dixon. She wasn't surprised when she found Dixon there with Vaughn, figuring that she would be called in to talk to both of them.

"Sydney, welcome, please have a seat." It didn't throw her off that he was being so polite to her, he always had been.

She murmured her hellos to both of them and sat in the seat next to Vaughn's.

"Now, we want to get you both back to work as soon as possible," Dixon started, "but we need to discuss some things first."

Sydney and Vaughn both nodded, not sure what they needed to discuss, but figured it had something to do with her working with Sark.

"First, Vaughn, I need to know how long you've known about Sydney's… involvement with Mr. Sark."

Vaughn looked over at Sydney quickly then back to Dixon, "About a month, not until the night the Covenant was dismantled."

"Alright," Dixon said, mostly to himself. "Now, Sydney," his voice sounded pained, like he didn't want to have to say something. "You know that you can't go on working with a terrorist if you stay with us."

She looked away from Dixon then, she couldn't stop working with Sark, but she couldn't lie to Dixon.

"I'm not telling you to make any decisions now," he said softly, "We want you to stay here, but I would understand if you didn't want to anymore." He understood what this job took away from a person more than anyone, it having taken away his wife. "But do know, that you won't have the protection of our offices if you leave and work with Mr. Sark." But by no means was he saying that she couldn't hold her own. He knew she had a better chance of taking care of herself than anyone else. Other than her parents.

She nodded, taking in all this information. "I'll give you 'til the end of the week to make your decision." Dixon offered her quietly. Seems she would have to make a choice determining what to do with her life sooner than she thought.

"Thank you," she said quietly. And they all knew that was all they needed to talk about. Sydney and Vaughn stood up, shook hands with Dixon and walked back into the main room.

Michael looked at her calmly as the made there way through the people, "Do you know what you're going to do?" He asked her softly.

"No," she shook her head, thinking to the conversation she had with Sark the night before.

Vaughn didn't press it, but just walked with Sydney back to her office. Stopping in the doorway she looked around, it didn't look any differently from the last time she had seen it, but that didn't mean she wasn't weary about going inside. Neither of them said anything as they looked around, but when Sydney was about to say something they heard something drop.

Both of them turned around to see Lauren helping an intern picking something up. Sydney took a step back into her doorway, but didn't say anything, her gaze was on Lauren, her eyes misted over, playing scenes only visible to her, and Vaughn presumed they were from her torture. Lauren looked up from the floor when she felt two pairs of eyes gazing down at her.

Sydney's misted ones, and Vaughn's angry gaze. She started to walk away but Vaughn called her name, "I need to talk to you," he muttered as he pulled her into his office, shutting the door behind him.

"What do you want?" They were on anything but civil terms, so they weren't exactly happy about talking, but they were still married.

"Lauren, we need to get a divorce." He said, getting right to the point, not wanting to dance around the subject.

"Fine," she agreed, not hesitating to give him what she wanted. Truth be told she would have told him this had he not in due time.

"I can have a lawyer draw up the papers tomorrow," he said, not trying to sound to happy that she had agreed to this.

"Is that all?" She asked, sounding rather bored. He rolled his eyes and nodded, nodding her head she walked out of the office, not letting Vaughn see the happy smile on her face.

Sydney sat down at her desk and didn't quite no what to do with herself. Dixon hadn't given her any work to go over, so she really had nothing to do. Leaning back into her chair she sighed, this was going to be interesting. She tried to think of how she would tell Sark about what Dixon ad told her.

Either stay with him and leave the CIA, or leave him and stay with the CIA.

She didn't notice her cell phone ringing until it had rung a few times already she was deep in thought. Grabbing it, hoping the person hadn't hung up already she answered it. "Hello?" She said and was relived when she didn't get the dial tone.

"_Hello, love."_ Sark's voice came in through the other line.

"Hey," she said, her voice softening, and she looked up to make sure her door was shut.

"_What was that meeting about?" _She hadn't told him she was going to a meeting, but had left him a note, as he was still asleep when she left.

She sighed before answering, "He wanted to know what I was going to do."

_"What you are going to do?"_ He repeated, as if he didn't understand, which he half didn't, but he wanted to let her explain.

"What I'm going to do about this working situation we have on our hands," she sighed again rubbing her eyes.

"_Ah, and what, pray tell, were your choices?" _

"Either, leave the CIA and stay with you," which she knew was the choice that he would want her to do, "Or leave you and stay here." Which was the choice that Dixon was hoping she would take.

"_Well, that sounds like fun,"_ Sark said bitterly as if he expected her to take the second one. _"When do you have to give him an answer?" _

"The end of this week," which was only two days away.

"_Oh well,"_ Sark was being very childish about this all. She hated him for it.

"Sark, it's not like I want to choose between you and everything else," she cried out.

"_I say we discuss this when you get home,"_ he said coldly.

"Fine," she was on the verge of tears and she didn't want him to hear her cry, not now. "Bye Sark," she said his name bitterly and hung up the phone.

She threw the phone down on her desk and held her hands up to her eyes, trying to not cry. She didn't want to cry, not now. Not in front of these people who were always judging her, and some were waiting for her to break down.

Once she had gotten her tears under control she looked up to see Lauren walking away form Vaughn with a big smile on her face. Sydney shook her head and leaned back in her chair, Vaughn came in a few minutes later, shutting the door behind him.

"Well, that was fun," he muttered sitting down in front of her desk. "Lauren and I are getting a divorce." He told her, as she looked confused.

"That's good right?" Sydney was happy; even though she wasn't with Vaughn she didn't want him married to a crazy bitch.

"Yes, that's good." He gave her a warm smile and nodded. "So, what's wrong?"

Sydney was startled by his question, "Nothing," she lied.

"Syd, I know you to well for you to lie. I know something's up," he told her, not wanting to pressure her or anything.

"Sark called," she said, and then sighed. "I told him what Dixon wants from me and he was acting like a complete bastard. God I feel like I'm in high school again," she moaned and put her head in her hands.

"Ah," Michael nodded, not fully understanding. "Maybe," he started, not sure if he wanted to say this, as he didn't know Sark all that well, "Maybe he is afraid that you would choose the CIA over him." He offered, because in this situation that's what he would be afraid of.

"Maybe," she murmured, not wanting to talk about this anymore. "I guess I'll find out later."

Michael knew this conversation was over, they sat there in silence for a little while longer, neither of them had anything to do. The silence was broken later when Eric came in to see why they were both just sitting there.

* * *

Walking in the front door Syd threw her keys onto the hall table and hung up her coat. Looking around she didn't see Sark, but didn't know if he was there or now. Walking into the bedroom she found it void of presence, shaking her head she walked back into the kitchen and found a piece of paper on the counter. _I've gone out for a drive, I'll be back. –J_

Sydney let out a frustrated sigh, "Thanks, Sark, so much," she said through gritted teach. He hadn't said when he'd be back, just that he would.

Tears she thought that had died down threatened to come out again, grabbing a bottle of water from her fridge she went into the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Setting the water bottle on the table she lay down, in her work clothes, on the bed. She needed to sleep, but she wanted to wait for him to come back.

Curling up in a ball she began to cry softly, fears of loosing Sark, but also of loosing her friends, overwhelmed her as she began to cry harder.

She had no idea how long she had been crying, she didn't even hear the front door, crying had made her tired. She didn't notice anyone had come in until she felt a light touch on her shoulder. Looking up she saw it was Sark, wiping her face she sat up, but wouldn't meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said gently, having a feeling that the tears that fell on her cheeks were partially his fault.

The apology startled her, and her finally his gaze. Not saying anything as she thought, "I've made my choice," she simply stated before laying back down.


End file.
